National Museum of the Republic of Kazakhstan — Attraction in Astana

If there is an indication how the country is governed and maintained, just visit its national museum - it will give you a tiny glimpse of the overall impression of the country. If the said country’s national museum is architecturally impressive, well-organized, well-curated, secure, well-maintained, and manned by genuinely friendly staff, then it is a reflection of that country. I have visited national museums of numerous countries but so far as of this writing, the National Museum of Kazakhstan takes the cake as one of the best I have ever visited. Why? Then read on below.

First, the exterior façade is an architectural masterpiece in my opinion. I will try to describe it as brief and as thorough as possible: The modern glass façade coverage is not excessive as it is blanketed with soft-white exterior cladded tiles, which I assume to be marble. The asymmetry of the building façade is a genius idea by the architect; the two-toned minimalism of the façade perfectly blends with the interesting asymmetry. I think the aforementioned blending creates a very dramatic overall aesthetic, which looks much better than the overrated pyramid glass façade of the Louvre :)

Second, the interiors: This museum immediately sucks you in once you enter the lobby. You will be greeted by a humungous golden eagle installation dangling from the main ceiling of the lobby (ceiling height could be approximately 25 to 30 meters high, which covers the entire museum's floors). According to my tour guide friend who accompanied me during the visit, the eagle is an “animatronic” installation that can move, acting as if it were flying atop the main museum lobby. I did not have the chance to see the eagle move during as my visit was during around opening time. In addition, the interior design of the main lobby gives you a feeling of prominence, created not just only to impress, but to give you a sense of how modern Kazakhstan/ Astana is – its aspirations as well as its evolving culture in this day and age.

Third and lastly, the museum collection/ curation: The museum or exhibit areas are huge, and there is plenty to see! I did not have enough time to finish the tour as I was short in time as I booked only for a 1 day city day-trip. Even though I did not visit all collections, I was impressed on how organized and well-maintained the museum is. I do not want to spoil anything but my favorite areas were the life-size nomadic tent, complete with interior furnishings, as well as the “Golden Man” exhibition, wherein you will see the elaborate costumes of the nomads which are cladded with real gold 

Overall, a great visit and experience. Highly, highly...

While riffling through the reviews, two camps became apparent to me - it's stuffed with stuff to fill in expansive space OR it holds more than meets the eye.

After just 1.5hr I can wholeheartedly join camp one - virtually done, despite having moved slightly below my normal speed (which is very slow and reading almost all available materials). However, to be fair, I skimmed the Fine Arts Hall somewhat swiftly, cause it was of no particular interest to me.

The amount of materials in English is moderate - could be more, there are definitely situations in which Russian/Kazakh evidently offers more context.

Navigation is subpar (imo) - it's often not obvious where to go next and whether one has covered that gallery or not - there are lots of appendices which lead nowhere. Pixelated copies of ancient texts and missing labels on obvious replicas also cooled me down a little.

On the bright side, as the museum hails the flag and identity of a freshly independent nation, technical side and presentation is totally up to scratch - screens, lighting help weaving narrative while visitors move along. Guided tours, supposedly, can make it even better, although I chose to skip one.

I agree with many, that Nazarbayev gilding is gratuitous, but future will tell.

To sum up - it's a decent national gallery, sporting fair exposition of historical and cultural artifacts, keeping in mind multiple influences on the area throughout history, but don't get your expectations too high. And, again, 2hr will be sufficient for absolute majority of diligent...

Museum is deceptively larger than you realize. The individual exhibit halls aren't huge but there are a lot of them.

The signage on each hall explains very well what you will find inside however there isn't a good path marked between each exhibit so sometimes you aren't sure where to go next or in what order to do the individual halls.

I'm sure I missed a hall or two just by taking a "wrong turn." Also some escalators or halls were closed without an explanation or signs about where to go next. Occasionally you'll see museum staff that you can ask.

Overall very nice museum. Lots of history of the region with historical artifacts and restorations. In my opinion the museum can be split into thirds...about 1/3 is the ancient and medieval history of the region (which I personally found most interesting). Another 1/3 is 1970+ art from various artists, sculptures painting and the like. About 1/3 of the museum is about the history of modern (post Soviet) Kazahstan, its first president, creation of its currency, military...and various achievements during that time. If you include everything I would say plan to spend 2 to 2.5...