![]() The monument is meant to embody a folktale about a mythical tree of life and a magic bird of happiness: the bird, named Samruk, laid her egg in the crevice between two branches of the tree. The monument was built as a symbol of the transfer of the capital from Alma-Ata to Akmola in 1997. Alongside the handprint, and also oriented in the direction of the presidential palace, is a wooden sculpture of a globe and 16 radiating segments, commemorating the Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions, held several times in Astana. ![]() ![]() A plaque invites visitors to place a hand in the imprint and make a wish. The top level features a gilded hand print of the right hand of Nursultan Nazarbayev, the first President of independent Kazakhstan, mounted in an ornate pedestal. It consists of two levels, one with 360 degree views of Astana and beyond, with a second, higher level, reached by a flight of stairs. The observation deck is 97m above ground level. ![]() Entrances to the monument are sunk below eye level, reached by stairs from the surrounding plaza. The base contains a ticket booth and exhibition space, with two lifts rising within the shaft to the observation deck within the 'egg'. It consists of a narrow cylindrical shaft, surrounded by white branch-like girders that flare out near the top, supporting a gold-mirrored 22m diameter sphere. The 105m tall structure rises from a wide flat base within a raised plaza. The project was launched on the initiative of the first President of the Republic of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev the architect of the project is Akmurza Rustembekov. ![]()
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