Astana — renamed Nur-Sultan in 2019, then reversed back to Astana in 2022 — was purpose-built as Kazakhstan's capital after Nursultan Nazarbayev transferred government functions from Almaty in 1997, a relocation widely understood as a political consolidation of power away from the southern regional elite. The city was effectively constructed from a near-empty steppe site within a single decade.
This 2018 issue marks twenty years since that transfer. The National Bank of Kazakhstan produced a substantial commemorative program around the anniversary, of which this is one piece.
Astana — renamed Nur-Sultan in 2019, then reversed back to Astana in 2022 — was purpose-built as Kazakhstan's capital after Nursultan Nazarbayev transferred government functions from Almaty in 1997, a relocation widely understood as a political consolidation of power away from the southern regional elite. The city was effectively constructed from a near-empty steppe site within a single decade.
This 2018 issue marks twenty years since that transfer. The National Bank of Kazakhstan produced a substantial commemorative program around the anniversary, of which this is one piece.