Kazakhstan has seven sites on the UNESCO World Heritage List, ranging from ancient petroglyphs and Silk Road monuments to a Timurid mausoleum, rock mosques, vast steppes, mountain reserves and cold winter deserts. Together, they highlight important chapters in the country’s past and offer a vivid introduction to its culture and natural diversity.
A further 15 sites are on Kazakhstan’s Tentative List and may be nominated for inscription on the World Heritage List in the future.
Kazakhstan and UNESCO
Kazakhstan joined UNESCO in 1992 and accepted the World Heritage Convention in 1994.
In addition to its seven World Heritage Sites, Kazakhstan has 14 elements inscribed on UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage List. Four items of documentary heritage are included in the Memory of the World International Register, while 15 natural areas have been designated UNESCO biosphere reserves.
Kazakhstan has also been elected to the UNESCO World Heritage Committee twice. The country first served on the Committee from 2013 to 2017 and was elected again in 2023 for a term ending in 2027.
UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan has seven sites on the UNESCO World Heritage List:
- Mausoleum of Khoja Ahmed Yasawi (included in 2003),
- Petroglyphs of the Archaeological Landscape of Tanbaly (included in 2004),
- Saryarka – Steppe and Lakes of Northern Kazakhstan (included in 2008),
- Silk Roads: the Routes Network of Chang'an-Tianshan Corridor (included in 2014),
- Western Tien-Shan (included in 2016),
- Cold Winter Deserts of Turan (included in 2023),
- Rock Mosques and Associated Sacred Sites of Mangystau (included in 2026).
Mausoleum of Khoja Ahmed Yasawi
The mausoleum is located in the city of Turkestan, known as Yasi in the Middle Ages. This monumental building was constructed between 1389 and 1405 on the orders of the Central Asian ruler Amir Timur. It replaced a smaller 12th-century mausoleum containing the tomb of the Sufi poet and preacher Khoja Ahmed Yasawi. Construction stopped after Timur’s death, leaving the main portal and parts of the interior unfinished. At 38.7 metres high, the Mausoleum of Khoja Ahmed Yasawi is one of the largest and best-preserved buildings of the Timurid period.
Built of fired brick, the mausoleum contains 35 rooms with different functions. Its decoration includes glazed tiles, ornamental inscriptions and fragments of wall paintings. Many of its architectural and structural features later influenced Timurid buildings in Samarkand.
The mausoleum’s main hall, Kazandyk, takes its name from the Taikazan, the enormous bronze cauldron standing at its centre. Cast in 1399 on the orders of Amir Timur, it weighs around two tonnes and is considered one of the complex’s most important relics. Above Kazandyk rises the largest dome in Central Asia, measuring 18.2 metres in diameter.
Petroglyphs of the Archaeological Landscape of Tanbaly
The Tanbaly rock carvings were discovered by archaeologists in 1957 in a gorge in the south-eastern Chu-Ili Mountains. The site contains around 5,000 petroglyphs, most of which date from the Bronze Age. The earliest and most expressive group was created during the second half of the second millennium BC, mainly in the 14th–13th centuries BC. Other carvings were added during the Early Iron Age, the Middle Ages and the modern period.
The petroglyphs depict people and animals, hunting and sacrificial scenes, and unusual figures of solar-headed deities. The greatest concentration of carvings lies in the central part of the gorge, where possible places of worship and altars have also been identified. Nearby ancient settlements and burial grounds form a single archaeological landscape with the petroglyphs.
Saryarka – Steppe and Lakes of Northern Kazakhstan
Saryarka comprises the Naurzum and Korgalzhyn State Nature Reserves in northern Kazakhstan, with a combined area of more than 450,000 hectares. Its main value lies in the combination of extensive areas of almost undisturbed steppe, freshwater and saline lakes, and rich wildlife.
Around 200,000 hectares are occupied by Central Asian steppe, home to saiga antelopes and rare steppe birds. The lakes and wetlands provide important stopover points for migratory birds travelling from Africa, Europe and South Asia to their breeding grounds in Siberia. These include rare and threatened species such as the Siberian crane, Dalmatian pelican and Pallas’s fish eagle.
Silk Roads: the Routes Network of Chang’an-Tianshan Corridor
This transnational World Heritage Site consists of 33 components in China, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. The corridor extends for approximately 5,000 kilometres from the ancient capitals of China to the Zhetysu region of Central Asia. It began to take shape between the 2nd century BC and the 1st century AD and flourished between the 6th and 14th centuries.
The World Heritage property includes ancient cities and trading settlements, roads, mountain passes, temples, fortresses, tombs and other monuments. Eight of its components are located in Kazakhstan: Aktobe, Akyrtas, Karamergen, Kayalyk, Kostobe, Kulan, Ornek and Talgar.
Western Tien-Shan
The Western Tien-Shan is a transnational natural World Heritage Site shared by Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan. Its Kazakh section includes the Aksu-Jabagly and Karatau State Nature Reserves, as well as Sairam-Ugam State National Nature Park. Established in 1926, Aksu-Jabagly was the first state nature reserve in Kazakhstan and Central Asia.
Across the three countries, the site ranges in elevation from 700 to 4,503 metres. It encompasses varied mountain landscapes, forests and plant communities with exceptionally rich biodiversity. Rare species found here include the snow leopard and the argali, a large wild mountain sheep.
Cold Winter Deserts of Turan
The Cold Winter Deserts of Turan form a transnational natural World Heritage Site consisting of 14 components in Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. They represent different types of Central Asian desert characterised by cold winters, hot summers, and diverse plant and animal life adapted to extreme changes in temperature and limited water.
The Kazakh section consists of five components: three within Altyn-Emel National Park and two in Barsakelmes State Nature Reserve. These areas provide habitats for saiga antelopes, goitred gazelles, urials and numerous species of desert birds and plants.
Rock Mosques and Associated Sacred Sites of Mangystau
This World Heritage Site comprises five sacred complexes in Mangystau: Beket-Ata, Shopan-Ata, Karaman-Ata, Shakpak-Ata and Sultan-Epe. Dating from the 12th to the 18th centuries, they are associated with Sufi masters and remain important pilgrimage sites today.
The defining feature of the rock mosques is their close relationship with the natural landscape. Prayer halls, places for spiritual retreat and the tombs of saints were created in natural caves, carved into steep cliffs or excavated underground. From the outside, the mosques almost blend into their surroundings. This relationship with nature reflects the fusion of Islamic Sufi traditions with older beliefs and the veneration of sacred places.
Kazakhstan’s UNESCO Tentative List
Kazakhstan’s Tentative List includes monuments and natural areas that may later be nominated for inscription on the UNESCO World Heritage List. At present, however, they do not have World Heritage status.
- Turkic Sanctuary of Merke – on the Tentative List since 1998. This high-altitude sanctuary contains more than 170 funerary and ritual monuments, including burial mounds, stone enclosures and anthropomorphic stelae.
- Northern Tyan-Shan (Ile-Alatau State National Park) – added to the Tentative List in 2002. Located south of Almaty, the park encompasses glaciers, mountain gorges, coniferous forests and habitats of rare animals.
- Abylaikit Monastery – added to the Tentative List in 2021. This fortified 17th-century Buddhist monastery was an important religious and cultural centre of the Dzungar Khanate.
- Cultural Landscape of Ulytau – on the Tentative List since 2021. The area contains ancient settlements, burial mounds, mausoleums and other monuments associated with the history of the Golden Horde and the Kazakh Khanate.
- Silk Roads: Early Period (Prehistory) – added to the Tentative List in 2021. The Saka necropolises of Besshatyr, Boraldai and Issyk provide evidence of early connections between China and Zhetysu.
- Silk Roads: Fergana-Syrdarya Corridor – on the Tentative List since 2021. The nomination includes ancient towns and settlements along the Syr Darya that connected agricultural oases with the nomadic regions of Central Asia.
- Silk Roads: Volga-Caspian Corridor – added to the Tentative List in 2021. The archaeological sites of Kyzylkala, Saraishyk and Zhaiyk mark routes that connected Central Asia with the Volga region, the Caucasus and the Caspian Sea.
- Ustyurt: Landscapes and Aran Hunting Traps – added to the Tentative List in 2021. These ancient systems of stone walls and trapping pits were used for the communal hunting of steppe animals.
- Petroglyphs of Zhetysu (Kulzhabasy, Eshkiolmes, and Bayan-Zhurek) – on the Tentative List since 2025. The rock carvings and surrounding archaeological remains span a period from the Bronze Age to the modern era.
- Petroglyphs of the Karatau Range (Arpaozen and Sauyskandyk) – added to the Tentative List in 2025. More than 8,000 images depict hunting, herding, rituals and the beliefs of the region’s ancient inhabitants.
- Monumental Monuments and Sanctuaries of the Early Steppe Tradition of Central Eurasia (Mausoleum of Kozy-Korpesh–Bayan Sulu, Ritual Structure Dombauyl, and related “Dyng” Towers) – added to the Tentative List in 2025. These 8th–11th-century monuments reflect the ritual and commemorative traditions of medieval nomadic societies.
- Medeu – Complex of Mudflow Protection Engineering Structures – on the Tentative List since 2025. The 20th-century dam, reservoir and high-altitude skating rink form a single engineering and sporting complex.
- Architectural Resilience: The Anti-seismic Heritage of Almaty – added to the Tentative List in 2025. Three buildings from different periods illustrate the development of earthquake-resistant construction in the city.
- Sacred Timber Architecture of Central Asia: Islamic and Christian Traditions at the Turn of the 19th–20th Centuries – added to the Tentative List in 2025. The Ascension Cathedral and Jarkent Mosque represent two traditions of monumental timber religious architecture.
- Botai Eneolithic Horse Pastoralist Cultural Landscape – added to the Tentative List in 2026. The settlement, dating from the 4th millennium BC, provides important evidence about Eneolithic communities and their relationship with horses.
When planning a trip to Kazakhstan, be sure to include one or more UNESCO World Heritage Sites in your itinerary. These places offer one of the best introductions to the country’s history, culture and natural landscapes. From Almaty, you can visit the Tanbaly petroglyphs, explore the ancient settlement of Talgar or travel to Altyn-Emel. The Mausoleum of Khoja Ahmed Yasawi fits naturally into a visit to Turkestan. Trips to Saryarka, the Western Tien-Shan and the rock mosques of Mangystau require more planning, as routes depend on the season, local access conditions and the regulations of protected areas.