Kazakhstan, situated in the geographic center of Eurasia, has been well known since the times of the Silk Roads. Today, just as in that distant epoch, it combines features that are remarkable for their contrasts: East and West, modernism and archaism, impetuous youth and the staid wisdom of ancestors. Even its geography is full of contrasts: The perpetually snow-capped mountains adjoin the Great Steppe; the regions of rives and picturesque lakes-the so-called "eyes of the earth" - are surrounded by neighboring desert. Such variety and contrast gives rise to the possibility of sensing such fundamental cultural ideas as eternity and beauty. However, only a deep familiarity with Kazakh nomadic civilization allows one to go beyond sensing to understanding how these fundamental ideas are philosophically thought out, formulated and artistically realized in traditional Kazakh culture.