Friday, May 8, 2009

Pyramid of Peace & Accord

One of our visits was to this pyramid (obviously not ancient).
Although the pyramid has a number of names, the one that we remember easiest is the "Pyramid of Peace & Accord". The pyramid was actually built to host meetings for the Congress on World and Traditional Religions, which are held every three years. There is a small area for the meeting at the very top of the pyramid... but we'll get to that later.

The ground floor is technically below-ground, and hosts a gift shop, restaurant, and coat check.

The first floor, is where a theater is located. In the middle of the ceiling is this interesting shape (don't mind the spotlight):
The design in the last picture is a little difficult to see. Here we are on the second floor standing on top of that spot. There are large triangles of glass in the foreground of the picture. I looked through the glass and could see the seats in the theater. I'll be honest... it made me feel a little ill to stand there.
To get to the top of the pyramid you travel these walkways. You can't tell by the pictures, but these two walkways are not connected. Each begin and end on opposite sides of the respective floors.
At the top of the pyramid is the actual room where the"Congress of Religions" meets. There is a large opening in the center of the room where you can look down and see the lower levels, around that opening is the area where the "traditional" religions sit, and then there are other seats on the perimeter for representatives of other religions/churches which have been invited to attend.

The top of the pyramid is stained glass, as you can see in this picture. The very peak is yellow, and then there are doves in various stages of motion (no two are alike). We were told that if we were to fly above the pyramid and look down it would look like the Kazakhstan flag.
Looking down from the top you can see all the way to the third floor.

1 comment:

  1. Neat! I am nothing but a broken record, as far as my comments go. I want you to know i've read your post (read the previous one, but didn't comment). So, once again I thank you for sharing. YOu have great pictures, and share what you know of it all so well. love, mom

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