A futuristic capital raised on the steppe
Astana became Kazakhstan's capital in 1997 and has since risen from the steppe as a city of statement buildings. The Baiterek tower, a golden sphere held aloft by a white lattice, offers views along the central axis. Norman Foster designed both the Palace of Peace and Reconciliation, a glass pyramid, and Khan Shatyr, a giant tilted tent housing shops and even an indoor beach. The National Museum tells the country's history from the Scythians onwards. Winters are bitterly cold, summers hot.