Category: Places that would be neat to visit? - Kazakhstan's capital

Kazakhstan’s capital: Laying the golden egg | The Economist: Astana has all the weirdness of Pyongyang and little of the human scale of Canberra. It is a collection of monuments and boulevards on a scale that screams “L’�tat, c’est moi”. The president surveys his city from his marble-clad, blue-and-gold-domed palace. The jewel in Astana’s crown is usually reckoned to be a Norman Foster pyramid, the Palace of Peace and Accord. It flashes neon at night, houses an academy of Turkic studies and is supposed to promote reconciliation among the world’s religions. It is one of several buildings that displays Mr Nazarbayev’s obsession for hosting conventions, expositions and conferences.