Ancient Romans believed that every place had its own “genius loci,” a kind guarding spirit, which decided the fate of every sliver of land. Astana, Kazakhstan’s present capital, must have had a blessing of its genius loci. It was the genius that lured the capital to the shores of the solemn Yesil river, to the epicenter of Eurasia, sent ideas to space, masterfully brought together circumstances and, finally, combined the passionate will of the Kazakh leader with the fine world of inspiring muses, whose mother is believed to be architecture. This is how the unique city, which makes one’s heart skip a beat, came to be. The ultramodern megalopolis has turned 19. Just 19! When one looks at this urban miracle, it’s hard to believe one’s eyes.

Astana has won many international awards for its unique architecture, has earned reputation of one of the world’s most exquisite capitals and has received prestigious medals and the title of the City of Peace from UNESCO. But one should not forget the state responsibilities, the role of Astana as the quintessence of the nation’s spirit, the political, scientific and cultural center of the dynamically developing Kazakh state.

Tengrians don’t give up

The generous Creator gave Kazakhs the steppe, endless and severe. Nomads loved their austere land in the center of Asia, the battleground of winds. Their wise men found a formula for harmonious coexistence with the nature, and the people became one with the horizonless expanses. Flying on their strong horses, little did Kazakhs know that their hooves were beating on a treasure chest…

Kazakhs gave their land the energy of many generations, invested their hard toil, dreams, joy and grief into it. From their ancestors they inherited the wisdom of Tengrianism, which declared life to be the absolute good and did not approve of despondence.

This way, with rises and falls, they lived for many centuries. At the turn of the new millennium, the life of the Great Kazakh Steppe also took a sharp turn. People had to survive in the moonscape of the destroyed Soviet Union. And these dramatic developments brought them luck. They were saved not only by the Tengrian philosophy, but also by a charismatic leader with an extensive political past and colossal intuition, a person who knew where to lead people and what exactly to do. Nursultan Nazarbayev felt instinctively that the Kazakh luck was near and strained all his will and character to reach it.

The creators

…Both creators were courageous and daring –President Nursultan Nazarbayev, who conceived the city, and the Japanese architect Kisho Kurokawa, who agreed to take on the incredible project. But there was one difference: the former believed in the new city, but the other… not so much.

But why did he participate in the contest of designs for the future city? Most probably, he was led by professional instinct, which appreciated the daring task – to create a unique city with a Eurasian image in the steppe, a symbol, an argument, a spiritual vertical for the young sovereign state, its authentic face.

It is also possible that the Master heard his “swan song” and got caught in the magic of its tune… Astana was to become the final chord of his grand architectural symphony, the last stroke of the wing of his unbelievable imagination.

Anyway, the happy chance brought together the historical moment, the political will, the economic opportunity and the architectural temperament. But it was he who saw the city’s image in reality that really launched the process.

At first, Nursultan Nazarbayev was almost alone with his dream about the new capital, which he wanted to build in the northern part of the country, at the crossroads of the biggest transport routes connecting Europe and Asia, where there was enough room to let architectural imagination loose. People quietly grumbled, they were confused by the president’s odd decision, they viewed his project as an ambitious caprice, ill-timed and dubious. Why, they would say, spend billions on shuffling capitals, when society was demoralized and everything lay in ruins? In the beginning, it was only power that made it possible for the president to move towards his goal, but soon a creative team of associates emerged, who were ready to work on the Astana project straining all their strengths and abilities.

The leader imagined the future of the new capital in every detail, understanding all of its geopolitical, practical, humanitarian and moral implications. Later, in his book Kazakhstan’s Way, recalling the process of making and implementing the historical decision of building the new capital, Nazarbayev explained that the relocation of the center was not accidental. Despite the ruins, in which Kazakhstan, separated from the Soviet metropolis, found itself, the empty treasury and impoverished population, the head of the newborn independent state understood that his people, shaken and demoralized by loss of traditional guidelines in life, needed a new perspective, they needed the “clocks of their mind turned to a sovereign time.” To do this, it was necessary to give them a jolt, to air their brains. Otherwise, it would be impossible to make a leap to the future.

One of Astana’s 47 images

The traditional ensemble of nine ancient muses does not include the Muse of Architecture, yet it is believed to be the mother of all arts. It must have blessed the city. There is no other explanation to the grand harmony that unites unexpected ideas of very different architects, the first creators of Astana and those who continue sculpting its image.

Some say Astana is somewhat eclectic. The ultramodern architecture of the young Kazakh capital mixes different styles, the Oriental and Western designs. And this is inevitable, since the city positions itself as “Eurasian,” and so its image should be unusual, with a strong personality. On the other hand, harmony can be found in the eclectic, too. The most important things in architecture are proportions and unity of composition.

Architects of different architectural beliefs and artistic styles were invited here – from Germany, Britain, Bulgaria, Switzerland and some Eastern countries. The basic guidelines required that the city be environmentally friendly, high-tech, intelligent, with free use of space. Almost entire global experience, both positive and negative, went into creating the new Kazakh capital.

…President Nazarbayev announced his authoritarian decision to build a new capital at the end of 1997, as a New Year present for the nation. Work started immediately. The strongest support came from young people, who flooded the shores of the Yesil. It was necessary to prepare the left shore, a primeval, wild, swampy area, for construction. The battle of architects was outstanding. A total of 47 teams fought for the right to design the city, offering a lot of innovative suggestions. The international jury had it hard, but finally selected three proposals – a Russian, Kazakh and Japanese. They were presented to Nazarbayev, and he chose the project of the outstanding Japanese architect Kisho Kurokawa.

A renowned Kazakh architect, Amanzhol Chikanayev, who also participated in this “tender of giants” together with the Italian maestro Frederico Marconi, acknowledged in a conversation with journalists that the Japanese proposal was the most striking. Kurokawa included truly revolutionary urban ideas of the 21st century, and at the same time believed that Astana should not repeat solutions tested in other parts of the world, but be completely unique.

Kisho Kurokawa is one of the founders of metabolism in architecture, and he viewed the future city through the prism of “abstract symbiosis.” Metabolists talk in incompleteness and understatements. All this implies openness of building structures for a “dialog” with the city environment, its changing architectural, cultural and technological look. Plenty of air, exquisite green architecture, ionizing fountains, alleys, parks – everything for the most fastidious taste, for a demanding human.

Kurokawa’s project included certain landmarks that were to be created by internationally renowned architects, who were given the opportunity to express themselves playing “on the edge.”

The snow-white, radial ensemble of the presidential cultural center, the circus built in the form of a flying saucer, the magnificent Ak-Orda, residence of the Kazakh President, its size bigger than the White House in Washington, the Nur-Astana mosque, unlikely and surprisingly harmonious. The true masterpiece of architectural thought is the Kazakhstan cinema hall with changeable internal configuration, designed by Italian Manfredi Nicoletti. Ideas of many other architects were also brought to life to become Astana trademarks. But special recognition is given to Englishman Norman Foster, the master of high-tech. He designed the pyramid of the Palace of Peace and Reconciliation, where big international forums are held.

The pyramid accommodates the Culture Museum, the University of Civilizations and an opera theater for 1,500 seats. All this grandeur is supported by symbolical “hands of peace.” The panoramic elevator offers beautiful views of green terraces – the hanging gardens of Astana – and the tricks of light coming from the dome.

Bayterek: connecting Earth and Space

The Great Kazakh Steppe opened up under the incredible pressure of human toil and creativity. In 2002, Norman Foster built the inimitable Bayterek Tower, the symbol of Kazakhstan’s sovereignty and revival. The mythical poplar tree Bayterek symbolizes the Kazakhs’ belief about the universe, it is a tree of life growing in the center of the world, his roots reaching the heart of the Earth and its crown touching the sky. On the top of the sacred tree, the Samruk Bird, the ancestress of the Kazakhs, lays golden eggs… Of course, the idea to create Bayterek in the center of the capital could emerge only “inside the nation.” Symbolically, Bayterek is the center of the world, but geographically, it is the exact center of Eurasia. When I looked at the city from a bird’s eye view, from the 105-meter mark of the shining metal “trunk” of Bayterek Tower, the city lay below open, it gave out strong young energy, its beauty captivating, its promises plentiful. From the height of Bayterek Tower, the site of the Nazarbayev University looked like a landed airliner; I could see the curving pagoda roofs of the Pekin Palace Hotel, the glittering domes of mosques and churches. And there was also the easily recognizable style of Stalin-era Moscow skyscrapers – a Russian-style residential development.

…The place chosen for Astana was not accidental, it was favored by Kazakh ancestors long ago, which is proved by the ancient settlement Bozok situated in the heart of Astana. Once it lay on the route of the Great Silk Road. One of Astana’s avenues is called Syganak, after an ancient city that used to stand here. Artifacts found in burial mounds in the steppe date from many centuries – from the Bronze Age to the early Middle Ages ((7th-8th century) to the period of the Kazakh Khanate (15th-16th century).

The wise man and his chance

…Once upon a time, the Kazakhs were ruled by Khans, whose thrones were the saddles of their horses and the residences – white nomadic tents. They were smart people, doing a lot for building a country and developing its code of ethics. They managed to preserve their nation, navigating it through the dangers of history. Nursultan Nazarbayev repeated this deed during the period after gaining independence. History is made by passionate people. I like this idea of Lev Gumilev, an outstanding Russian ethnologist. Gumilev gave all effort of his mind and the passion of his heart to studying historical relations between nomads and sedentary population of the continent, which resulted in the idea of Eurasianism. His name is broadly known in Kazakhstan, and Astana has the Eurasian National University named after him.

Kurokawa’s mistake

Kisho Kurokawa, a creator “kissed by God,” worked, giving Astana, his last symphony, everything his mature talent had accumulated. He dreamed of living long enough to see the city in all of its beauty. He didn’t.

Astana quickly and manifoldly exceeded all forecasts of the General City Plan. Well, even great architects make mistakes…

Kurokawa did not believe in the city he was building and openly acknowledged it. The intuition and foresight let the creator down. He did not feel the prospects, attractiveness of the project and underestimated the financial opportunities that were provided to him.

Granted, at the time Kurokawa saw the city in the dark: the country’s economy had not yet recovered (it was later that it discovered its “treasure chest”). Based on the gross regional product, Kurokawa believed that the population would be small and the streets did not have to be very wide. He did not expect the city to have more than 600,000 residents. But Astana corrected him, quickly exceeding the one-million mark.

Architects all over the world update cities’ general plans once in five years to see whether they comply with the new reality, trends and financial possibilities. It is necessary to avoid stagnation. However, all fundamental ideas of the great architect, his theory of abstract symbiosis are alive and growing. Astana’s architecture has a strong environmental focus, remaining in harmony with the nature. Its main objective is maximum comfort – shadowed alleys, fountains, quiet and calm.

Dawn above the Kazakh steppe

…A heavy golden moon looked down from the dark-blue predawn sky, throwing its light on the dreaming, beautiful Astana. We were hurrying to catch the early flight to Moscow, moving through the peacefully sleeping city. A living image of the magnificent, daring, miraculous creation, young and ambitious, inspired admiration. And it was with wonder that the Yesil river looked at the transformation of its shores, carrying waters to the Irtysh and then to the Ob and the world ocean…