I have previously been calling it Astana Day, but local official online sources seem to refer to it as the Day of Astana. Anyway, it is also our beloved President’s birthday today. He is seventy, which is still very young, and in his honour the Khan Shatyr was officially opened today apparently. Nursultan Nazarbayev (who is legally not insultable by anyone living in this glorious nation) was rumoured to have been pondering resigning today, but I have yet to hear about any speech confirming this. Since the Leader of the Nation law was passed, some people thought he would take this momentous occasion to pass on the baton to another great, perfect and non-corrupt leader.
Anyway, check out the BBC article here for some more details on Khan Shatyr, though I have a few queries regarding the “facts” in that story…
Astana celebrates 13 years of being capital perhaps, but the city was around, in different (smaller) forms for a little bit longer than that 🙂 The phrasing just makes it sound as though nothing existed here for decades, and suddenly over night it came into existence.
Khan Shatyr is the city’s tallest structure? Could be right, but 150 metres doesn’t seem all that tall compared to some structures here. This could just be my mistake though.
“from 30C in the summer to -30C in the winter.” – An argument I’ve had over at Wikipedia before. Summer is regularly above 30C, occasionally hitting 40. Winter definitely sees an occasional dip below -30.
Here is an earlier photo of the Khan Shatyr tent like structure, whilst it was still being slowly constructed, to ensure it was ready for the birthday of this nation’s wonderful leader.
July 6th, 2010 9:38 pm
This was supposed to be done a while ago, right? I was hoping it’d be done and inhabited with shops before September. Oh well, maybe next time.
July 7th, 2010 2:37 pm
Yes it was. It could have been completed and opened a while back apparently, but they wanted to open it on the 70th birthday of El Pres instead. I’ve checked with Irina and some of her friends who actually visited it yesterday, and there are shops open in there, and it isn’t all empty and quiet, so you may not be disappointed.
July 7th, 2010 9:21 pm
Good news! The insulated non-canvas canvas doesn’t look complete in the pic so I thought it was still in the works. Shibby!
July 7th, 2010 9:22 pm
:embarrassed: reading comprehension > me
“Here is an earlier photo of the Khan Shatyr tent like structure, whilst it was still being slowly constructed”
July 9th, 2010 6:23 pm
I’ll try and post some more about the venue soon, we went the other evening, and weren’t overly impressed TBH.
July 7th, 2010 10:12 am
[…] or perhaps Kyzkovka? at the Central Park in Astana on the 6th of July, which is both Astana Day and the birthday of Nursultan Nazarybayev. var ecov = "sh"; […]
July 29th, 2010 6:14 pm
Gee, I do hope he had a very, very happy birthday and that people were pleased to work for free on this fabulous structure in honour of the birth of this wonderful leader. It is humbling to be included in news of the celebrations of the venerable president and I offer, albeit belatedly, the sincere and heartfelt congratulations of the entire Welsh People on the celebrations of this momentous birth – Mum
August 3rd, 2010 10:46 pm
Glad to see the proper respect being paid there! I don’t think they worked for free, but they did have to bring in a team of Turkish construction workers who could abseil to build a lot of it!