Kazakhstan, a Central Asian country and former Soviet republic, extends from the Caspian Sea in the west to the Altai Mountains at its eastern border with China and Russia. If size matters, Kazakhstan is the ninth largest country in the world, covering an area equivalent to Western Europe, and the largest landlocked country. Kazakhstan is one of the most ethnically and religiously diverse nations, owing to not only its history and nomadic culture, but also its geography, situated in between the major world religions. Its largest metropolis, Almaty, is a long-standing trading hub whose landmarks include Ascension Cathedral, a tsarist-era Russian Orthodox church, and the Central State Museum of Kazakhstan, displaying thousands of Kazakh artifacts.