# Hazrat Sultan Mosque, Astana > Hazrat Sultan is Astana’s big white working mosque, opened in 2012 on the right bank of the Ishim (Yesil) next to the Palace of Peace pyramid. Entry is free and visitors of any faith are welcome between prayers. The city’s Visit Astana portal lists it as open daily 6:00–20:00. Allow 40 minutes. Cover shoulders and knees; women need a headscarf, and robes are lent at the door. Web page: https://yesgo.io/kazakhstan/astana/hazrat-sultan-mosque - City: [Astana](https://yesgo.io/kazakhstan/astana), Kazakhstan - YesGo score: 41/100 (Yes, if nearby) - Time on site: 40 min - With kids: Fine with kids - Entry: Free - Hours: Daily 6:00–20:00 (Visit Astana); other guides differ - Closed: Never; during prayers the hall is for worshippers only - Dress code: Shoulders and knees covered, no shorts; headscarf for women, robes lent at the entrance - Shoes: Off before the prayer hall; lockers provided - Time needed: 30–45 minutes, about an hour with Independence Square - From Bayterek: ≈ 3.5 km: about 10 minutes by taxi - Address: Tauelsizdik Avenue 48 - Phone: +7 7172 42-24-55 (per Visit Astana) - Coordinates: 51.12500, 71.47222 - Facts checked: 30.10.2026 ## Key facts - **6 July 2012** — opening day; construction began in June 2009 (source: English and Russian Wikipedia; Visit Astana) - **5,000–10,000** — worshippers: 5,000 on a normal day, up to 10,000 on holidays (source: English and Russian Wikipedia; Visit Astana) - **51 m** — height of the main dome (28.1 m across) — the largest dome in Kazakhstan (source: English and Russian Wikipedia; Visit Astana) - **4 minarets** — 77 m each, one at every corner (source: English and Russian Wikipedia; Visit Astana; Turkestan Travel) - **8 smaller domes** — ring the main one (source: English and Russian Wikipedia; Visit Astana) - **11 ha** — of grounds; the buildings cover 17,700 m² (source: English and Russian Wikipedia; Turkestan Travel) - **≈ 3 years** — to build, with around 1,500 workers on site (source: Visit Astana; Turkestan Travel) - **Right bank** — of the Ishim, beside the Palace of Peace, the Kazakh Eli monument and Independence Square (source: English and Russian Wikipedia) - **Kazakh ornament** — classical Islamic design with national patterns on the white façade and columns (source: English Wikipedia; Turkestan Travel) - **Wedding hall** — plus ablution rooms and rooms for Quran reading (source: English Wikipedia; Visit Astana) > **Dress code: what to wear** Cover your shoulders and knees — shorts are not allowed for anyone. Women need a headscarf that covers the hair; if your clothes don't fit the rules, staff lend a long robe at the entrance. Shoes come off before the prayer hall and go in a locker, so slip-ons make life easier. ## Hazrat Sultan Mosque opening hours It is a working mosque that welcomes visitors every day, just not during prayers. The city’s official tourism portal, Visit Astana, gives **6:00–20:00 daily**. Other guides say “open 24 hours” or 9:00–21:00, so we mark the hours as unconfirmed. The safe plan is daytime, between two prayers. The busiest time is Friday midday prayer and major Islamic holidays, when the hall fills with worshippers and visitors should wait outside. A weekday morning is calmest — few people, and soft light on the white marble. During prayers women pray in a separate gallery upstairs. Outside prayer times women visitors can enter the main hall too; a rope marks where sightseers may walk. ## Prayer times today — when to wait outside Times are calculated for the mosque's coordinates and may differ by a few minutes from the timetable of the Spiritual Administration of Muslims of Kazakhstan. Leave a margin: arrive at least half an hour after a prayer begins. Today's prayer times are on the web page: https://yesgo.io/kazakhstan/astana/hazrat-sultan-mosque ## Is Hazrat Sultan Mosque free? Entry and tours **Yes, entry is free** — several independent guides agree, and there is no ticket desk. Photos inside are allowed; skip the flash and don't photograph people at prayer. We found no official schedule of mosque-run tours. Some guides mention a free walk-through by staff, but nothing confirms it, so treat it as a bonus rather than a plan. For context, a guided Astana city tour is the easy option: the mosque is almost always on it, together with the Palace of Peace and Independence Square. Paying around town: Yandex Go taxis take cards through the app, and buses take contactless bank cards at the validator. Foreign cards don’t always work on the bus readers, so keep a taxi app as a backup. ## Is it worth visiting? Yes, if you are on the right bank anyway. It takes 40 minutes, costs nothing and sits a short walk from the [Palace of Peace and Reconciliation](https://yesgo.io/kazakhstan/astana/palace-of-peace-and-reconciliation) and [Independence Square](https://yesgo.io/kazakhstan/astana/astana-independence-square), so it slots into half a day without effort. The interior — white columns, Kazakh ornament, a vast dome — is the most photogenic mosque interior in the city centre. It is less of a must if you have already seen the grand mosques of Istanbul or the Gulf: the building is new, from 2012, with no centuries of history behind it. And since 2022 it is no longer Astana’s biggest — that is the Astana Grand Mosque on Mangilik El Avenue, which needs a separate trip. ## What to see - **The main prayer hall** under the dome — massive white columns and Kazakh patterns; stand in the middle and look up. - **The façade from the square** — step back from the staircase to fit all four 77 m minarets in one frame. - **The 51 m dome** — the largest in Kazakhstan, best seen from the riverside. - **Evening lights** — after sunset the white walls and minarets are floodlit. - **The Palace of Peace and Reconciliation** — Norman Foster’s glass pyramid a couple of minutes away. - **Independence Square** and the Kazakh Eli monument, right behind the mosque. ## How to get to Hazrat Sultan Mosque 1. From [Bayterek Tower](https://yesgo.io/kazakhstan/astana/bayterek-tower) the mosque is about 3.5 km east, across the Ishim on the right bank. The fastest way is a Yandex Go taxi — about 10 minutes, with the fare shown in the app before you ride. 2. By bus: route it in 2GIS or Yandex Maps to Tauelsizdik Avenue 48 — both show live route numbers. Unofficial guides list buses 3, 4, 19 and 40 (the 40 runs from the railway station). 3. Pay on the bus with a contactless bank card or a transport card at the validator. Foreign cards are sometimes declined, so have a fallback. 4. On foot from Bayterek it is roughly 50 minutes over the river. Fine in summer; in winter the wind and frost make a taxi the better call. 5. Look for the glass pyramid of the Palace of Peace: the mosque stands right next to it on Tauelsizdik Avenue. ## Before you go: checklist - [ ] Shoulders and knees covered, no shorts - [ ] Headscarf (women) — or I'll borrow a robe at the door - [ ] Shoes that come off easily - [ ] Checked today's prayer times - [ ] Not Friday around midday — or happy to wait - [ ] Allowed 40 minutes, about an hour with the neighbours ## Hazrat Sultan vs Astana Grand Mosque | | Hazrat Sultan | Astana Grand Mosque | | --- | --- | --- | | Opened | 2012 | 2022 | | Where | Right bank, by the Palace of Peace and Independence Square | Mangilik El Avenue 65 | | Minarets | 4 × 77 m | About 130 m | | Main dome | 51 m high, 28.1 m across | 62 m across | | Nearby sights | Palace of Peace, Independence Square, National Museum | New districts, few sights | Only one mosque on your list? Make it Hazrat Sultan — it sits among the other right-bank sights. The Grand Mosque is bigger but a trip of its own. ## Places of worship in Astana compared Every place of worship in Astana rated by YesGo. - [Hazrat Sultan Mosque](https://yesgo.io/kazakhstan/astana/hazrat-sultan-mosque) — YesGo score 41/100 (Yes, if nearby) · 40 min · Free ## The right bank in half a day The mosque, Independence Square and the Palace of Peace stand side by side; then a taxi over the river to Bayterek and Khan Shatyr. Add them to your route — YesGo fits in the timing and transfers. 1. [Hazrat Sultan Mosque](https://yesgo.io/kazakhstan/astana/hazrat-sultan-mosque) — YesGo score 41/100 (Yes, if nearby) · 40 min · Free 2. [Independence Square and Kazakh Eli Monument](https://yesgo.io/kazakhstan/astana/astana-independence-square) — YesGo score 42/100 (Yes, if nearby) · 30 min · Free 3. [Palace of Peace and Reconciliation](https://yesgo.io/kazakhstan/astana/palace-of-peace-and-reconciliation) — YesGo score 39/100 (Yes, if nearby) · 1 h · 2,000 ₸ incl. guided tour 4. [Bayterek Tower](https://yesgo.io/kazakhstan/astana/bayterek-tower) — YesGo score 46/100 (Yes, if nearby) · 45 min · 2,500 KZT; kids 6–15 1,250 KZT 5. [Khan Shatyr](https://yesgo.io/kazakhstan/astana/khan-shatyr) — YesGo score 41/100 (Yes, if nearby) · 1 h 30 min · Free entry; beach ≈ 20,000 ₸ > **Come back after dark** At night the façade and minarets are floodlit and the Palace of Peace pyramid glows next door. You don't need to go inside — it is simply the best evening photo on the right bank. ## Good to know “Hazret Sultan” (Әзірет Сұлтан) is also the name of the reserve-museum around the mausoleum of Khoja Ahmed Yasawi in Turkestan, a different city roughly 900 km away as the crow flies. This page is about the mosque in Astana. Older guidebooks call it the largest mosque in Central Asia; since 2022 the new Astana Grand Mosque is larger. ## Tips - Go in the morning, then walk to the Palace of Peace and Independence Square — all three are side by side. - Avoid Friday midday prayer: the hall is full and visitors wait outside. - Bring your own headscarf if you prefer — robes are lent at the door, but your own scarf is more comfortable. - For the full façade shot, stand at the far edge of the square in front of the stairs. - Astana winters are windy and well below freezing: take a taxi to the door and save the walk for summer. - One day in Astana? This mosque is worth its 40 minutes. Two days? Add the Grand Mosque on Mangilik El Avenue. ## Questions ### What are Hazrat Sultan Mosque opening hours? The city's Visit Astana portal lists 6:00–20:00 daily. Other guides say 24 hours or 9:00–21:00, so visit in the daytime between prayers. ### Is Hazrat Sultan Mosque free to visit? Yes. Entry is free and there is no ticket desk. ### Can non-Muslims visit Hazrat Sultan Mosque? Yes, visitors of all faiths are welcome outside prayer times. During prayers the hall is for worshippers. ### What is the dress code? Shoulders and knees covered, no shorts. Women cover their hair with a scarf. Robes are lent at the entrance if needed. ### Can women enter the main prayer hall? Between prayers, yes. During prayers women use the separate gallery on the upper floor. ### How do I get to Hazrat Sultan Mosque? From Bayterek it is about 10 minutes by Yandex Go taxi. For buses, route it in 2GIS or Yandex Maps to Tauelsizdik Avenue 48. ### Are there guided tours of the mosque? We found no official tour schedule. A guided Astana city tour almost always includes the mosque. ### How long do you need at Hazrat Sultan Mosque? 30–45 minutes for the hall and the façade, about an hour with Independence Square and the Palace of Peace. ### When was Hazrat Sultan Mosque built? Construction started in June 2009 and the mosque opened on 6 July 2012. ### Is it the largest mosque in Kazakhstan? It has Kazakhstan's largest dome, 51 m high. In size it has been overtaken by the Astana Grand Mosque, opened in 2022. ## How we checked Dates, sizes and capacity are checked against Wikipedia and the Visit Astana city portal. Hours conflict — Visit Astana gives 6:00–20:00, other guides say 24 hours or 9:00–21:00 — so they are marked unconfirmed. Visit Astana gives the grounds as both 11 and 13 ha; we show 11 ha, as the encyclopedias do. One Russian guide gives a different address (Baitursynov Street 5); we use Tauelsizdik Avenue 48 from Visit Astana. Bus numbers are unofficial, from a single guide. The rules for women in the main hall, shoe lockers and photo permission come from one guide (Eurasia Travel) — treat them as unofficial. ## Sources - Visit Astana, official city tourism portal: Hazrat Sultan Mosque — hours, address, phone, capacity, 30.10.2026 - English and Russian Wikipedia: Hazrat Sultan Mosque; Wikidata Q4494668 - Turkestan Travel: Astana — Hazrat Sultan Mosque - Eurasia Travel: The Hazret Sultan Mosque in Astana — visitor rules - Tonkosti Turizma: Hazrat Sultan Mosque (in Russian) - Wikipedia: Astana Grand Mosque; Visit Astana: the mosque at Mangilik El Avenue 65 - Visit Astana: information for tourists — transport and taxi payment --- This is the Markdown version of a YesGo page for AI assistants. Quote the web page link above, not this file.