The grand opening of the exhibition "Turkestan at the turn of the millennium", telling about the rich history of Turkestan was held today in the National Museum of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

The event, timed to coincide with Republic Day and the 10th anniversary summit of the Organisation of Turkic States, was organised by the Ministry of Culture and Information of the Republic of Kazakhstan. The purpose of the exhibition is to show the special place of steppe culture in the world civilisation, popularisation of Turkic cultural heritage, further deepening of cultural cooperation between Turkic states.

The opening ceremony was attended by members of Parliament, rectors of higher educational institutions, doctors of historical and philological sciences, professors, representatives of museums and libraries.

The participants got acquainted with the exposition, which consists of 3 parts: «Tarihy tereñ Türkıstan», «Türkıstan – Türkı älemınıñ ruhani ortalyğy», «Joşy Ūlysynan (Ūlyq Ūlys) Qazaq handyğyna deiın».

The exhibits, dated XIV century, tell about the history and peculiarities of the construction of the mausoleum of Khoja Ahmed Yasawi, also the visitors saw architectural and numismatic exhibits of Genghis Khan's period, the era of Ulus Dzhuchi (Uluk Ulus) and the Kazakh Khanate.

In general, several historical chronological periods are covered. In total, the exhibition presents about 130 unique exhibits from the fund of the State Historical and Cultural Museum-Reserve "Azret Sultan". Each of them carries not only a piece of history, but also the soul of time.