Excursion in Nur Sultan city (Astana)
Nur-Sultan (Kazakh Nur-Sultan) is the capital of Kazakhstan. The city is located in the northern part of the country in the middle of the Kazakh steppe on the banks of the Ishim River. It is the second largest city in the country after Almaty. Recently, the city has changed its name several times. From 1998 to 2019 it was called Astana, earlier from 1992 to 1998 Akmola, from 1961 to 1991 - Zelinograd, before that Akmolinsk.
The city was founded as a Russian fortress in 1830. In the 1950s, the site became the center of the Soviet arable land reclamation campaign. This led to a change in the cityscape and an acceleration in the development of the city. After Kazakhstan gained independence from the Soviet Union, it was decided to move the capital, making the city the planned capital on December 10, 1997. In the south of the city, a modern government district was then built with striking buildings such as the Baiterek Tower, Khan Shatyr or the Pyramid of Peace and Unity.
- Distance of the route:
5 km
- Season time:
all season
- Best time:
all season
- Group size:
12 pax
- Days & nights:
1 day
Tour itinerary:
During the tour of the capital of Kazakhstan, first of all we will visit a new national history museum, which was built in the summer of 2014, then we will go to the symbol of the city of Astana, called “Baiterek”. The height of the tower is 105 meters, it is located on Independence Square. From the height of “Baiterek” there is a beautiful view of the city center, from the presidential palace to the “Khan-Shatyr” shopping center. Next, we are waiting for a walk along the embankment of the Irtysh River, after which we will visit the park, where the map of reduced copies of historical and natural monuments of Kazakhstan, called "Atameken", is located. Having finished examining the exhibits, we go to the main mosque of Astana, which is called “Nur-Astana”, and then we will visit the cathedral in honor of the Assumption of the Most Holy Mother of God. Having visited sacred places, we will stop at the monument to victims of repression. At the end of the tour we are waiting for a trip to the aquarium, which is located in the entertainment center "Duman".
Akmola began its history in 1830, when construction of the Akmola fortress was begun in the Karautkul tract. In the middle of the first millennium BC, a so-called path through the Great Steppe, mentioned by the ancient Greek historian Herodotus, passed through these steppes. Subsequently, it was transformed into the widely known Great Silk Road.
In the XIX century, Akmola was a major trade and economic center of the steppe. On July 16, 1863, Akmola was officially declared a district city. On October 21, 1868, according to the “Provisional position on governance in the steppe regions of Orenburg and the West Siberian General Government”, the Akmola region was established with its center in Omsk.
Omsk by that time was the center of the West-Siberian general-governorship. There is an assumption that Akmola region was so named because in the future the center was planned to be moved to Akmola. These assumptions are confirmed by the fact that in 1879 Major General Dubelt presented to the Russian Railway Ministry the project for the construction of the Tyumen-Akmolinsk railway.
The first 30 years the population of Akmola was a little over 2 thousand people. In the collection “Volosts and Settlements of Akmola Region” published in 1893 in St. Petersburg, it was noted that Akmola is a district city with a population of 6,428 souls, it has 3 churches, 5 schools and colleges, 3 factories. The second, most important stage in the development of the city was the development of virgin soil.
In December 1960, a city with a population of about 100 thousand inhabitants became the center of the Tselinny region, which included all the northern regions of Kazakhstan. Soon, in 1961, Akmolinsk was renamed Tselinograd. With the abolition of the Tselinny Krai in 1971, Tselinograd became the center of the region. In 1992, the city returned its former name - Akmola.
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