Kazakhstan: Korkyt Ata Memorial

Korkyt Ata Memorial stands in the middle of nowhere in the central deserts of Kazakhstan, miles from anything else along the major M32 highway. The futuristic memorial and mausoleum was built on 1980 and rebuilt and enhanced in 2004 to commemorate Korkyt Ata, the famous Kazakh poet and musician who invented the national instrument of kobyz. The monument has four vertical steles at four counters of the world and a platform with an organ with 40 pipes in the middle that plays kobyz-like sound when the wind blows through it. The memorial is quite beautiful and very atmospheric and almost alien-looking. Especially at sunset and especially when there is absolutely nobody around for miles and miles.