The National Museum of Kazakhstan

On our last Saturday before I began school, we decided to take advantage of living in the Capital of a country and to visit the national museum.  We had heard good things about the museum from some friends, so we decided to check it out.

The museum is on the other side of the river, but in the new part of the town.  It is close to a musical university, and to the largest mosque in the city.  It is also right in front of the road where the military parades and review takes place (See our post about that here).

View of the mosque

The mosque. It is a really beautiful building.

Lexa at the square in front of the musical university.

It was a beautiful late summer day and we had an enjoyable short walk to get from the bus stop to the museum.  It cost us less than $40 to see the entire museum, including the "gold room" and to be able to take photographs.  We had Ludmila with us, so that was the price for 3 adults and 4 children.  It was a good deal.

The museum of National History.

The cool fountain in front of the museum.

After our visit to the museum in Bishkek (See post here), the museum in Astana was a pleasant surprise.  The building itself is large and modern and an architectural piece of art with large spaces, big angles, lots of texture, and an imposing feel to it all.  In the lobby there is a large golden eagle that is animatronic and which lights up - it "flies" once an hour.  The eagle is one of the symbols of the state, so it is an appropriate entrance-way gimmick.

Golden eagle.

The museum is a combination of a natural history museum, a history museum, an art museum, and a propaganda piece[1].

The museum was very well put together, which displays arranged by theme and by time.  We spent about three hours walking around and seeing everything, and could have spent longer if we had the patience with the girls.  Some of the highlights were an exhibit about perspective, displays of life on the Steppe, the art portion of the museum with modern and classic art (including a Warhol Campbell's soup painting), and the gold room.  The gold room is a display of the jewelry and other items that were found buried with one of the rulers that was recently discovered (within the past four or five years.)

An electronic display about water and the life in it.

Yurt

Inside of the yurt.

Showing off Kazakhstan's role in space exploration.  Most launches to the international space station still take place here.

Art room

Modern art exhibition. 

"Evolution of growth"

The display and the items reminded me a lot of the King Tut traveling exhibit that my parents took me to see at BYU in the early 1990s.  It was really interesting to see the jewelry and armor made of gold - including the bridle and other tack for the horses.

War horses

Exhibits from the gold room

More of the things from the Gold Room

At the end of the day we came away with a greater appreciation for the history and people of Kazakhstan. We ended the day with a fast food lunch at one of the local malls - it was a great way to end an adventurous summer.



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[1] I mean this without any judgement. One thing that is true of Kazakhstan, but which we didn't see in Bishkek, was that there is a strong sense of building a national identity and national pride. The regime is very conscious about making a Kazakh (or Kazakhstani) history that legitimizes the state.  From a political and sociological standpoint, it is a fascinating process to watch unfold.