Shopping and Entertainment Center Khan Shatyr

Khan Shatyr is a huge shopping and entertainment center in Nur-Sultan, the capital of Kazakhstan. The name “Khan Shatyr” can be translated into Russian as “Tsar-Shater” or “Tsar-Yurt”. In the appearance of this remarkable construction, indeed, at first sight, one can recognize the colorful features of the cone yurt of nomads, intricately intertwined with futuristic design. There are many stores and restaurants, six movie halls, amusement rides in the mall. There is also a real beach, studded with sand brought from the coast of coral lagoons of the Indian Ocean. Under the building is built underground parking, and near the shopping center arranged free parking.

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Video: Khan Shatyr

Contents

Highlights

Khan Shatyr Shopping and Entertainment Center is designed for active shopping and entertainment, it is open from 10:00 to 22:00. There are 192 stores, where you can find goods produced on all continents of the planet – from children’s toys to iPhones. Many boutiques offer clothes, shoes and accessories of world brands. Collections of fashionable clothes of the season are demonstrated by beautiful models on the catwalks. Live music performed by pop stars often sounds here, gathering crowds of fans. However, the shopping and entertainment center is always crowded, daily it is visited by up to 30,000 citizens and tourists.

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Bold engineering solutions of the architects who worked on the project were based on modern innovative technologies and materials. Under the cone vault reigns a comfortable living environment created against the contrasting and harsh climate of Northern Kazakhstan. Experts of the prestigious Forbes magazine, who annually determine the world rating of high-profile novelties appearing in all areas of human activity, included the shopping complex “Khan Shatyr” in the top ten best eco-buildings erected on the planet in 2010.

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History of construction of the shopping center

The project of neo-futuristic style construction was approved by the President of Kazakhstan himself in 2006. The embodiment of the ambitious idea of the architects of the English architectural studio Foster & Partners cost 250 million dollars. For the erection of the unique building invited builders of the Turkish company Sembol. “We have never built anything like this before,” said company president Fettah Tamindje, but his craftsmen met the tight construction deadline.

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Khan Shatyr opened its doors in July 2010, in time for the birthday of President Nursultan Nazarbayev, who initiated the construction of this architectural marvel.

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Interesting facts about Khan Shatyr

Residents of the capital of Kazakhstan call the building of the shopping mall the largest yurt in the world, but to European tourists Khan Shatyr rather resembles a pointed hat of a giant wizard, dropped by a scattered magician in the center of the capital of Kazakhstan. At the same time, the name of the wizard is well known: the original building was erected according to the project of the cult English architect Norman Foster, who became famous for professional realization of his amazing ideas. Many of them, including Khan Shatyr, have been enthusiastically described in the Guinness Book of Records. The mastery of the architect impressed the Queen of Great Britain herself. In 1990, Elizabeth II knighted the architect, and in 1999 awarded Sir Foster the title of Baron.

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In 2007, at the request of the Russian government, Norman Foster’s architectural studio designed the Crystal Island skyscraper. This building in the form of a 450-meter tent with a polymer coating, providing a year-round comfortable internal microclimate, and with a record base of 2.5 million m², was planned to be erected in Moscow. “Crystal Island” was supposed to be the most capacious building on the planet. However, after the resignation of Yuri Luzhkov and criticism related to the choice of Nagatinskaya floodplain as the construction site, the project was frozen.

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Khan Shatyr, which rightfully occupies an honorable place in the list of mega-constructions of the XXI century, owes its outstanding appearance to a unique fluoropolymer coating – it is this material that allowed the embodiment of incredible ideas of architects and designers. Among such structures are huge spheres of greenhouses Eden Project, erected in 2001 in Cornwall, UK; home base of soccer club “Bayern” – indoor stadium Allianz Arena in Munich (2002); the tower of the National Space Center with a museum of astronautics in Leicester, UK, where launch vehicles can fit freely (2001); the National Aquatics Center in Leicester, UK; the National Aquatics Center in Leicester, UK, where launch vehicles can fit freely (2001). ); National Aquatics Center in Beijing (2008); BC Place multi-purpose stadium in Vancouver, Canada (2011); Estadio Cuauhtemoc Stadium in Pueblo, Mexico (2015); US Bank Stadium in Minneapolis (2016).

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Architecture

The building’s axis spire is slightly tilted to the horizon, so the base is an ellipse rather than a circle, covering 14 acres, comparable to the area of ten soccer stadiums. The colossal tubular structure, rising 150 meters, can be seen inside. To the three powerful supports of the supporting pylon are attached the cables of stretching facades of the mega-yurt, as well as elevators, escalators and all floors with numerous stores and restaurants, cinema halls and entertainment centers.

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On the outside, the cone of the huge complex is covered with a translucent fluoropolymer coating created in the chemical laboratories of the American corporation Du Pont. This ultra-strong composite material reinforced with carbon fibers is used in the aerospace industry, serves as a coating for thousands of kilometers of submarine cables, is used for effective protection of electronic equipment operating in aggressive environments.

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Universal elastic film allows sunlight to pass through, but reflects unwanted UV radiation, providing during the day soft natural lighting of the colossal internal volume. And millions of photodiodes embedded in the fabric of the covering allow Khan Shatyr to be transformed into an enchanting 150-meter kaleidoscope of lighting effects in the evenings.

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Under the giant tent, a comfortable environment is maintained around the clock with a stable microclimate that does not depend on external weather conditions, and they are extreme in the capital of Kazakhstan. In summer in the city reigns heat, sometimes – up to +40 °С, and in winter the air temperature sometimes falls to -30 °С. Inside Khan Shatyr it is +23…+25 °С all the year round, the temperature is maintained by computer climate control, which manages the system of heating, ventilation and air conditioning. Increased humidity, necessary for tropical plants that decorate the colossal interiors, is created by swimming pools and greenhouses.

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Entertainment

On the second floor of Khan Shatyr, the Chaplin Cinema is open from 10:00 to 02:00. Films in six halls are shown in Kazakh and Russian languages. Some pictures are not dubbed and sound in the original language, dialogues are accompanied by titles. Reading the texts distracts a little from the plot collisions, but you can hear the actors’ authentic voices with all the nuances of intonation. The cost of tickets for the sessions – from 115 rubles.

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All calculations in Kazakhstan are made in the national currency – tenge (KZT). For the convenience of readers, here are the rates in the menu of restaurants, the cost of services and entertainment provided in the shopping mall Khan Shatyr in Russian rubles (at the exchange rate for November 2019).

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Fame City playground works on the 3rd floor. Here visitors are entertained from 11:00 to 23:00. With children, be sure to check out the amazing “Dinopark”, where predatory and herbivorous dinosaurs live in the Jurassic jungle. Nine realistic moving life-size models of the lizards enthrall visitors. Tour guides will tell inquisitive kids about paleontology, tell them in which parts of the world the remains of the presented dinosaurs were found, how long they lived and why they disappeared from the face of the Earth.

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Go up one more floor where there is a world of animatronics, arcade machines and carousels. Near the children’s café is a monorail train station. From its cars on a circular 500-meter route, you can view the entire shopping and entertainment complex.

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One of the most “adrenaline-pumping” rides is a fall from a 40-meter tower. You sit in a cozy chair, and suddenly it falls into the abyss. Most visitors prefer to watch this adventure of daredevils from the side. Even higher up there is a roller coaster with carriages whizzing through the Gold Mine, here darkens the gloomy entrance to the scare room with terrible ghosts.

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The tropical Sky Beach Club awaits beachgoers on the last tier of Khan Shatyr. This segment is covered with its own domed greenhouse. Real palm trees grow on the shore of the artificial reservoir, lounge chairs are located under them, and snow-white coral sand, as advertising brochures claim, was delivered here by airplanes from the Maldives, which lie in the Indian Ocean. Along the bed of the artfully decorated mini river you can paddle a canoe.

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Celestial Beach is open from 10:00 to 21:00, there are three swimming pools (one of them – with artificial waves), a restaurant, a sauna and Jacuzzi baths. The entrance ticket to this paradise will cost 1650 rubles, for children – in 990 rubles.

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Cafes and restaurants in Khan Shatyr

Khan Shatyr has 4 restaurants, and food courts operating on all shopping floors, in entertainment centers and on the beach, unite three dozen cafeterias and establishments with fast food and full hot dishes. Popular international chains such as KFC, Burger King, Baskin Robbins and Starbucks are represented here. National cuisine can be ordered in Bauyrsak Knah Cafe, Italian delicacies are offered by Salivan. SpongeBob fans are happy to visit Khan Shatyr’s Krusty Krabs, and for desserts it is worth going to Chocolate confectionery.

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Prices here are noticeably higher than in similar cafes on the streets of the city. A cup of tea costs 50 rubles, coffee will be served for 300 rubles, a tin can of Coca-Cola (0.25 liters) costs 132 rubles. Alcoholic drinks are very expensive: a glass of martini (200 g) costs 495 rubles, a shot of vodka (50 g) costs 132-165 rubles, and a scalding sip of whiskey, gin or tequila costs 248-578 rubles. Bars offer a wide selection of cocktails for 280-346 rubles.

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Restaurant cost of a glass of beer 0.5 liters – from 130 to 198 rubles. Beer is served with fried shrimp (412 rubles), cheese sticks and crispy french fries, baked under a spicy sauce spicy calamari and chicken wings (85-577 rubles).

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Snacks, sandwiches and burgers are offered for 247-330 rubles, for a portion of Italian pasta or pizza you will have to pay 240-365 rubles. There is not much choice of hot meat and fish dishes here, the menu of all establishments includes mini kebabs of beef and chicken fillet, salmon steaks, schnitzels, cutlets. Price tags for hot food range from 245-495 rubles. Ice cream balls and oriental sweets will cost 115-660 rubles, a vase with grapes and fruit – 330 rubles.

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Where to stay

The closest hotel to Khan Shatyr is the luxurious Astana Marriott Hotel 5*, located about 500 m to the southeast, on Dostyk Street, 2. From the rooms of the high-rise building of the hotel and the panoramic windows of the restaurant on the 27th floor you can enjoy a beautiful view of Khan Shatyr and other attractions concentrated in the center of the capital. The price range for accommodation at the Marriott Hotel is 5241-14250 rubles.

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If you are looking for a decent budget hotel, very close to the shopping mall at your service mini-hotel Alikhan, located in a residential building on Dostyk Street, 1. For a room here ask 2620-2812 rubles per day. Even cheaper you can rent a room nearby in the Prospect Hotel (9 Siganak Street): a daily stay will cost 1980-2300 rubles.

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How to get there

Khan Shatyr is located in the center of the capital of Kazakhstan, at 37 Turan Avenue, opposite the Lovers’ Park. From the railway station here go buses route number 32, from the airport – bus number 10. Buses № 29, 46, 50, 56, as well as buses № 804 and 808 stop near the shopping center, connecting remote areas of Nur-Sultan with the city center. Shopping can be continued at the market “Sharyn”, from the stop “Khan Shatyr” to it goes bus number 53. The fare for municipal city transport is 250 tenge (about 30 rubles).

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