Palace of Peace and Reconciliation

The Palace of Peace and Reconciliation is the most architecturally striking of the Foster + Partners buildings in Astana — a flawless glass-and-steel pyramid completed in 2006. It was built to host the Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions, a periodic interfaith summit. The base houses an opera hall seating 1,500; the middle levels contain conference rooms and a small museum of Kazakhstani culture; the apex is a circular meeting chamber wrapped in stained-glass doves designed by British artist Brian Clarke.

Tours run several times a day in English and Russian. The interior is dramatic — the inverted pyramid skylight floods the central atrium with light — and the rooftop chamber, accessed by a glass lift, is genuinely beautiful. The building sits at the eastern end of the ceremonial axis, surrounded by parkland and reachable on foot from the Aqorda Residence. Allow about an hour.

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A 62-metre glass pyramid by Norman Foster, completed in 2006 to host the triennial Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions. The base is exactly 62 metres square — the building is geometrically perfect — and the apex contains a 200-seat circular conference chamber filled with stained-glass doves where the religious leaders meet.

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