Astana has been the capital of the Republic of Kazakhstan since 1996. The city is located in the central part of the country and in the north of its immense territory, called Sary Arka, on the right bank of the Esil (Ishim) River at the distance of 1318 km from the former capital of Kazakhstan - Almaty. In 1862 the Cossack military fort became the city of Akmolinsk. Majestic buildings of the House of the Government and the Parliament, a huge number of new establishments and the restored buildings attract attention of citizens and tourists.
Astana is becoming an international business and cultural centre not only for Kazakhstan, but also for the Eurasian continent.

Astana is a new capital on the world map and is already becoming a legend.
Astana is a complex notion, embodying the dream of many generations.

Astana has a buzz, a can-do business atmosphere and discipline.
Astana is a city of poems and songs, of clear string sounds of many akyns.
Astana is a city of scientific discussions and philosophical treatises.
Astana is the music of life, the metaphor used by the President Nursultan Nazarbayev.

In an address by the head of the State in December 1997 there were the following proud words of dignity: “From now on and forever, here, in the center of this vast country the crucial decisions for the people will be taken. It is here where the heart of our Motherland is beating. It is from here that Kazakhstan will define its policy at the threshold of the third millennium”.

The present day capital city originated from a fortress founded by Russian Cossack troops in 1830 on the bank of the Ishim River in Karaotkel. In 1862 Akmolinsk was granted a city status. In 1997 the President of sovereign Kazakhstan, N. Nazarbaev decided to move the capital from Almaty to Akmola. In 1998 a new capital was renamed Astana, which means “capital”.

Those days of the month of May brought to the city on Ishim River a marvelous renewal, a grand symphony of awakening. The day of the presentation of a new capital of a young state was approaching steadily. A bit more than a month remained before the coming event. In those very days and even hours the look of the city and its suburbs new modern buildings have risen, creating absolutely new compositions and style, getting new architectural features. The embankment of the Ishim River tried on the laces of metallic fence, white rotundas were being rushed up, the river that used to flow its waters into the silent steppe suddenly entered the impetuous world. A new image replaced the former tedious one.

It seemed that the city absorbed all the creative energy of the huge country. Its pulse was resilient and young. In those days about 50 thousand façade workers, asphalt pavers, and bricklayers were involved in the construction of different objects. Thanks to numerous artists, architectures, designers, musicians and other elite Astana acquired its uniqueness.

The emblem of Astana is a round shield - on a dark blue sky background there are images of a fortification as a symbol of the city history and the country stronghold; of a winged leopard as the personage of sakis legends as a symbol of wisdom and nobility; the gold crown symbolizes the status of Astana as a main city. Shanyrak means success of the national traditions. The frame of wheat ears talks of the grain resources of the country.

Astana is a symbolic expression of our open heart and mind to the East as well as to the West, South and North. This city is located in the geographical center of Eurasia.
Representatives of more than 100 nationalities live in Astana. The number of inhabitants of the capital amounts to more than 500 thousand. Population growth is the result of interregional migration. Currently is territory occupies 200 sq. km.

The climate is sharply continental. Winters are long with abundant snowfalls. Average temperature in January – 14 (-18C) frosts up to -40 C are possible. At the end of March spring begins, late but amazingly beautiful. The steppe is marvelous covered with flowering irises and tulips. Summer is moderately hot and plentiful showers alternate with sunny days. Average July temperature is +20 (+24 C). Dry strong steppe winds are characteristic for this season.
Speaking about the future one automatically recalls Great Shakarim: “Never forget things passed by!”.

Kazakhstanis may be more sensitive than others to the wisdom of the steppe: don’t defile the sacred! In the 30s the city actually became a place of exiled politicians, who went through the trials of Stalin’s repression. Just several kilometers away from Akmolinsk there was an infamous concentration camp ALZHIR, where thousands of women had been imprisoned for no other reason than being the wives of prominent statesmen and generals, scientists of those period who were stamped as “enemies of the people”. They suffered severe cold and snowstorms. Their children starved and froze with them. The new epoch has no right to forget those horrible times, the years of humiliation and personal suppression.

One of the first steps of President Nazarbayev in the new capital was the erection of the grand monument in honor of the victims of totalitarianism, who walked through a thorny path in ALZHIRs, STEPLAGs, KARLAGs. A huge kurgan is located along the route leading to the site, of the camp for the wives of the “enemies of the people”. The inhabitants of Astana and other cities of Kazakhstan, as well as of many Russian regions who visited the capital, named this kurgan with the titanic spire above it as the “Monument to Tears and Pain”.
In 1999 UNESCO awarded Astana the honorable title of “Peace City”. The city is developing at a high pace and facing great prospects.

Much attention is being paid to the development of the business tourism: meetings of representatives of foreign business circles visiting the Republic of Kazakhstan to look for potential partners and to found joint ventures with representatives of Ministries and governmental agencies.

Astana offers ethnic tours to the ancient land of abundant Sary-Arka: to relax in the traditional lands of nomadic Kazakhs far from civilization, to visit yurtas, to get acquainted with various ethnic cuisine, traditions and customs of the proud Kazakh people.

Travel agencies offer different excursions and tours: a visit to “Kulager” horse farm, exotic steppe trips, falcon hunting, fishing in Ermantau natural reserve, , excursions to Borovoye – one of the most picturesque corners in Kazakhstan, visiting Korgalgyn steppe natural reservation a unique combination of lakes and swamps where wildlife is abundant