Palace of Peace and Reconciliation, Astana

The Pyramids do not mean only Egypt, but now also Kazakhstan. Quite recently in year 2006, Astana opened the Palace of Peace and Reconciliation, built in a form of a regular tetrahedron. People assign an epithet the “Eighth Wonder of the World” to this pyramid. And really it has something to surprise: built by the famous architect Norman Foster, it uses golden section proportions in its design: the faces of the base are 62 meters long while the height is also 62 meters.

In contrast to the Egyptian Pyramids, consisting only of separate burial chambers, the Pyramid of the Palace of Peace and Reconciliation includes a concert-opera hall, conference hall, exhibition galleries, green house, and so on. All of them are notable for fabulous decoration, consisting of various panel pictures, sculptures, paintings and installations. The largest conference hall is called “Cheops Atrium”. Its total area exceeds 2,000 sq. m. At the top of the pyramid, there is a small conference hall – the “Cradle”, the place which hosted the famous World Religions Conference.

The Palace of Peace and Reconciliation is a Kazakhstan’s truly unique structure, whose blazing faces, in the best way possible, decorate the capital. What is more, the building’s cupola phosphoresces brightly at night and like a lighthouse, indicates the way to unity of peoples and religions.