The plaque says the statue is a young warrior soaring with a winged snow leopard as it strives for its future.

That’s the easy part. The statue sits in front of the Kazakhstan embassy. Sorry, never heard of it, which isn’t completely unusual when walking by embassies, this one at 16th St.

Turns out Kazakhstan is the ninth largest country in square miles and broke away from the Soviet Union in 1991. Its 16.6 million people are descendents of Mongols who took control in the 16th century of the Asian nation bordering Russia and China among others.

OK, now it’s a little easier to appreciate the 13-foot bronze statue erected in Sept. 2006 by the republic’s first president. The Golden Warrior Prince comes from a 1970 archaeological find from the fourth century when the residents where nomads and is considered a national symbol.