Bayterek Tower • Astana, Kazakhstan With Northern Lights Towers (left) and Khan Shatyr Entertainment Center (background, right) The Bayterek Tower symbolizes the Kazakh myth of the magic bird Samruk, who laid a golden egg between two branches of a poplar tree. The structure has a height of 105 meters with a 22 meter (diam.) gold mirrored sphere (the egg) mounted onto girders (the branches), Below the sphere is an observation deck. At night the tower is illuminated in variety of changing colors. An enormous construction boom has turned the former town of Akmola in the northern steppes of Kazakhstan into the new and ultra modern capital of Astana (since 1997), with architects from all over the world featuring their most contemporary designs.

View from Bayterek Tower • Astana, Kazakhstan Framed by two golden cone-shaped office towers is the "Ak Orda Presidential Palace". Right behind the palace (but barely visible) is the "Pyramid of Peace" (also known as Palace of Peace and Reconciliation). In the background are the "Shabyt - Palace of Art" (left) and the National Library (right). An enormous construction boom has turned the former town of Akmola in the northern steppes of Kazakhstan into the new and ultra modern capital of Astana (since 1997), with architects from all over the world featuring their most contemporary designs.