Ethno-memorial complex "Atameken", Astana

Kazakhstan is a huge country with wide open spaces of steppes, with different historical and natural attractions scattered at a distance from one another. To do all the monuments, one has to drive more than one thousand kilometers. But since recently, Astana has opened the ethno-memorial complex “Atameken” to displays the whole wealth of Kazakhstan in miniatures. Atameken can be translated from many Turkic languages as “Land of Forefathers”.

Map of Kazakhstan – Atameken Park was opened on 8 September 2001. The territory with total area of about 2 ha (2 football fields) houses reduced copies of architectural and natural attractions: Astana’s symbols – Bayterek, Pyramid, Palace of Peace and Reconciliation, country’s main industrial facilities, agricultural fields, mountain sceneries, well-known holiday resort Borovoe (Burabay), different roads, bridges and so on. All the regions and country’s major cities, such as Astana and Almaty, are marked on the huge map of Kazakhstan. All in all, the park of miniatures has over 200 sights, and their number is gradually increases.

Along with the park-map, the complex also includes a forum with an arena to host concerts, meetings and festive events. Side by side there are craftsmen’s workshops, where the visitors may watch a fabrication process of applied art items and even buy a souvenir as a keepsake. Thus, one may spend the whole day in the Atameken complex, feeling as real Gulliver for a short time.