The Kasteev State Museum of Arts is the largest art museum in Kazakhstan and a well known regional center for research and education in the field of art history. The Museum has a rich collection of artistic treasures comprise about 22,000 pieces. This collection includes works of ancient and contemporary Kazakhstan art, works of the Soviet period (1920s-1990s), Russian artworks from the 17th to early 20th centuries, Western- European art of the 16th–20th centuries, and finally, art of the peoples of the East – India, China, Japan and Korea.

The building, designed by the architects E. Kuznetsova, O. Naumova and B. Novikov, was constructed in 1976. In 1984, the museum was renamed in honor of Abylkhan Kasteev (1904-1973), a great Kazakh artist and a People's Artist of Kazakhstan.