The Independence Palace was built at the initiative of Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev. The central elements of the palace ensemble are a 91 metre tall marble column commemorating the year when Kazakhstan gained its independence, and a 120 metre long colonnade. There is a stone board at the foundation of the column representing the country's constitution and a mythical bird Samruk (Phoenix) at its top.
The original architecture of the three-storied palace strikes the imagination. A 4,775 sq m conference hall on the ground floor can accommodate up to 3,100 people and is fitted with cutting edge equipment. The ground floor also has a 220-seat press centre, a concert hall with two screens, a stage (1.35 m tall and 31 m long), and a restaurant with a seating capacity of 678 persons. The palace has a 268-seat Reception Hall used for special occasions and equipped with audio amplifiers (it has a separate cloakroom and rest rooms).
There are exhibition halls with a total floorspace of 7,022 sq m on the first floor of the building.
The highlight of the palace is the history museum on the second floor, Astana Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow, which tells the entire story of the young Kazakh capital. The museum has a spotlighted stage used for conducting excursions and a 45-seat cinema hall with a revolving stage and a panoramic screen.
There is a large hall containing a model of the future Astana in the right wing of the second floor. Next to it is a 4D cinema theatre. The Astana history museum and the Model Hall are linked to each other by an auxiliary passageway. There is a cozy 128-seat cafe in the foyer of the second floor.