Candy-coloured Zenkov Cathedral is Kazakhstan's nearest (albeit distant) relative to St Basil’s Cathedral in Moscow and one of Almaty’s few surviving tsarist-era buildings. Designed by AP Zenkov in 1904, the cathedral is built entirely of wood (including the nails). Used as a museum and concert hall in Soviet times, it was returned to the Russian Orthodox Church in 1995 and has been restored with colourful icons and murals.