10 interesting facts about the Palace of Peace and Reconciliation
1. Some 2,000 people of various nationalities, including British architect Norman Foster and his team, were involved into design and construction of the Palace of Peace and Reconciliation. It took 13 months to build it. Foster's sketches and photographs of the construction site are exhibited at the ground floor of the palace. 
2. The height of the building from the ground to the eighth floor is 75 meters.
3. The palace is unique because of its elevators which ascend and descend on a 60 degrees angle. The Eiffel Tower in Paris and Luxor Hotel in Las Vegas have analogous elevators. The building also has a regular elevator going up and down which takes the visitors to a conference hall on the eighth floor with a sweeping view of the Kazakh capital. The elevator was specifically designed for the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan, his guests and disabled people.
4. The footing of the building - 62×62 meters is made of steel. Total weight of the steel structure is 5,100 tons. Given harsh continental climate of the Kazakh capital, the footing was designed to resist huge temperature swings to prevent the building from deformation.
5. The conference hall on the eighth floor is called Cradle. The columns which "hold the hall" symbolize the parents' hands that rock a cradle. The 100-seat hall plays a host to various political events, congresses, conferences. 
6. Images of 130 pigeons are painted on the windows of the building from the third to the eighth floors. It was designed by Brian Clarke, architectural artist. The pigeons epitomize 130 nationalities that live peacefully in Kazakhstan. The pigeons can be seen only from the inside of the building. 
7. The biggest conference hall in the building is called atrium where every guest and visitor can make a wish. Its central part is the heart of the pyramid where the positive energy is accumulated. Its dome is the most beautiful element of the conference hall. Its design replicates the images of the national colors of the Republic of Kazakhstan. Sunlight penetrates the atrium not only through windows, but also through an open space of the round table on the eighth floor. The total area of the atrium is 2,185 square meters. It plays a host to the Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions every three years. Political events, congress and even wedding ceremonies are held there as well. 
8. Two staircases lead to the top of the pyramids. They are submerged into a winter garden which has both natural and artificial flowers. Natural flowers were imported from the Netherlands. 
9. The whole pyramid is divided into dark and light parts. Everything that is below the third floor symbolizes the underworld and is painted in dark colors. The upper part of the building, on the contrary, was made in light colors.
10. 21 national costumes of peoples who reside in Kazakhstan are put of displayed at the ground floor of the building. Guests and visitors of the building can find Kazakh, Uzbek, Georgian, Azerbaijani, German, Tatar, Bulgarian, Turkish, Romanian, Russian, Ukrainian, Korean and other national costumes in the exposition. It was unveiled on the occasion of the 15th anniversary of the People's Assembly of the Republic of Kazakhstan.
