Baiterek Tower (Astana)
A 97 m monument shaped like a tree holding a golden egg, from a Kazakh legend about the tree of life.
About
Baiterek rises at the end of a long boulevard in the centre of Astana, a slim white tower with a large golden sphere at the top, like an egg held in the branches of a tree. It is the capital’s best-known symbol.
A lift takes you up to the observation deck inside the sphere, with views over the government quarter, the river and the wide steppe beyond. The area around it is a popular place for evening walks.
History
The tower was built in 2002, soon after the capital moved from Almaty to Astana in 1997, and it was meant to symbolise the new city and the country’s ambitions. Its design draws on a Kazakh folk legend about the mythical bird Samruk, which laid a golden egg, the sun, in the branches of a poplar, the tree of life. The structure is 97 metres tall, a height chosen to recall the year the capital was moved, and the golden sphere is about 22 metres across. The tower was designed by the Kazakh architect Akmurza Rustembekov. The city itself was called Nur-Sultan from 2019 to 2022 and then took back the name Astana, but the tower has remained its main landmark throughout. A pedestrian boulevard links it to the presidential palace and the surrounding government buildings.