Astana: The world's weirdest capital city

Astana: The world's weirdest capital city

6 Sept, 2013 | From Anatoliy Remnev of Kazakhstan

CNN defines Astana as the world's weirdest city. It reported that "Astana became the capital of Kazakhstan in 1997. Much of its modern architecture is striking in its scale and design, especially in contrast to the vast, open steppes that surround it.

The city's futuristic design shows Kazakhstan's ambition and desire to distance itself from the Soviet legacy that has marred many of the surrounding Central Asian nations. As Astana is positioning itself as the center of Eurasia, a place where East meets West, a mixture of styles is quite appropriate, notes Serik Rustambekov - a local architect from Kazakhstan"

The Kazakh capital

Astana, Kazakhstan

6 Sept, 2013 | From Anatoliy Remnev of Kazakhstan

Astana (formerly known as Akmola until 1998; Tselinograd until 1992; and Akmolinsk  until 196) has been the capital of Kazakhstan since 1997, and is the country's second largest city (after Almaty, the former capital). It is located in the north portion of Kazakhstan, within Akmola Province, though administrated separately from the province as a federal city area.

The word Astana in Kazakh literally means Capital.

My first postcards from Kazakhstan

World's largest landlocked country

6 Sept, 2013 | From Anatoliy Remnev of Kazakhstan

Anatoliy sent me this postcard set featuring the city of Astana where he now lives.   

Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a contiguous transcontinental country in Central Asia, with its smaller part west of the Ural River in Europe. Kazakhstan is the world's largest landlocked country by land area and the ninth largest country in the world; its territory of 2,727,300 square kilometres (1,053,000 sq mi) is larger than Western Europe. It has borders with (clockwise from the north) Russia, China, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan, and also adjoins a large part of the Caspian Sea.

Kazakhstan is endowed with an enormous diversity of mountain ecological systems due to the high altitude zones. It is also ethnically and culturally diverse, in part due to mass deportations of many ethnic groups to the country during Joseph Stalin's rule.