Astana Cemetery

The Astana Cemetery or Astana Graves (Chinese: 阿斯塔那�墓, Pinyin: Āsītǎnà Gǔmù) is a large site 37 km southeast of present-day Turpan, in Xinjiang, China, 6 km from the ancient city of Gaochang. It served mainly as the cemetery for the descendents of Chinese settlers in Gaochang from the 4th century to the first half of the 8th century. The complex covers 10 square kilometres and contains over 1,000 tombs. Due to the arid environment many important artifacts have been well preserved at the tombs, including natural mummies.

Description of the tombs

The tombs consist of sloping passageways leading downwards for 4 or 5m to a rockcut entrance, about a metre wide and over a metre high. A step then leads into a brick-lined chamber, square or oblong and measuring between two to four metres wide, three to four metres long and up to two metres high. Some tombs contain one or two narrow antechambers in which there are niches on either side for guardian beasts. These figures show a variety of animal features and some have human faces. In their exuberance they resemble the clay statues of Guardian Kings similarly found at the entrance to Buddhist temples.

Astana

Astana (/É™sˈtÉ‘Ë?nÉ™/,US /æsˈtÉ‘Ë?nÉ™/;Kazakh: Ð?Ñ?тана [astaˈna]) is the capital of Kazakhstan. It is located on the Ishim River in the north portion of Kazakhstan, within Akmola Region, though administrated separately from the region as a city with special status. The 2014 census reported a population of 835,153 within the city, making it the second-largest city in Kazakhstan.

Founded in 1830 as the settlement of Akmoly (Kazakh: Ð?қмолы) or Akmolinsky prikaz (Russian: Ð?кмолинÑ?кий приказ), it served as a defensive fortification for the Siberian Cossacks. In 1832, the settlement was granted a town status and renamed Akmolinsk (Russian: Ð?кмолинÑ?к). On 20 March 1961, the city was renamed to Tselinograd (Russian: Целиноград) to mark the city's evolution as a cultural and administrative centre of the Virgin Lands Campaign. In 1992, it was renamed Akmola (Kazakh: Ð?қмола), the modified original name meaning "a white grave". On 10 December 1997, Akmola replaced Almaty to become the capital of Kazakhstan. On 6 May 1998, it was renamed Astana, which means "the capital" in Kazakh.

Astana Pro Team

Astana Pro Team (UCI team code: AST) is a professional road bicycle racing team sponsored by the Samruk-Kazyna, a coalition of state-owned companies from Kazakhstan and named after its capital city Astana. Astana attained UCI ProTeam status in its inaugural year, 2007. Following a major doping scandal involving Kazakhstani rider Alexander Vinokourov, team management was terminated and new management brought in for the 2008 season. The team was then managed by Johan Bruyneel, former team manager of U.S. Postal/Discovery Channel team. Under Bruyneel the ethical nature of the team did not improve, although Astana in this period was very successful. With a lineup including Grand Tour winner Alberto Contador, as well as runner-up Andreas Klöden the results were there, however the team was on the verge of financial collapse in May 2009. A battle for control of the team led to the return of Vinokourov for the 2009 Vuelta a España caused Bruyneel and at least fourteen of its riders to leave at the end of the 2009 season, most for Team RadioShack. Only four Spanish riders, including Contador, and most of the Kazakhs remained with the rebuilt team for 2010. Those four Spaniards all left the team for Saxo Bank–SunGard in 2011.

Astana (disambiguation)

Astana is the capital of Kazakhstan.

Astana may also refer to: