This beautiful, glass-and-steel pyramid was opened in 2006 as the home for the triennial Congress of World and Traditional Religions, hosted by Kazakhstan (next in 2015). The half-hour tour (English-speaking guides available) shows you a 1350-seat opera hall, the 3rd-floor atrium where the religions congress is held, and the apex conference room with windows filled with stained-glass doves (by British artist Brian Clarke). Full of symmetry and symbolism, the pyramid is beautifully illuminated and a highlight of the city.
Designed by Norman Foster, it's conceived as Astana’s symbolic centre, and by 2030 (when the city is planned to have spread well beyond its current extents) it should be near the geographical centre too.
