Monumental Sites of Turkmenistan

National Park of Independence National Park of Independence
The main tourist sight of the capital of Turkmenistan is National Park of Independence with the symbol of modern Ashgabat established on it - the Monument of Independence, the highest construction in the country (local people call it "Eight-leg"). The basis of this snow-white monument is the hemisphere serving as symbolical image of a traditional Turkmen yurta. Rivers-fountains flow down all eight "feet" of a dome-yurta and partially on its surface...
Monument of Neutrality in Ashgabat Monument of Neutrality in Ashgabat
Interesting object for visiting in Ashkhabad is Monument of Neutrality which has been reopened in December, 2011 located for now in a southern part of Ashkhabad, on Bitarap Turkmenistan Avenue - a passage of the largest highway. Initially the monument has been erected in the centre of Ashkhabad and was named the Arch of Neutrality...
Turkmenbashi Ruhy mosque Turkmenbashi Ruhy mosque
Ruhy Mosque is the biggest mosque in Central Asia. Twenty thousand men and woman can pray at the same time. The floor of the mosque is covered with handmade Turkmen praying mats, and an enormous eight-sided carpet decorates the very center of the mosque...
Seyit Jemaletdin Mosque Seyit Jemaletdin Mosque
Seyit Jemaletdin Mosque. Among the small number of Timurids-era monuments on the territory of Turkmenistan the mosque of Seyit Jemaletdin in Anau was the most brilliant. According to inscriptions on its facades and interior it was built when Khoresm was ruled by Abu Kasim Baber Bahadurhan (1446/1457). Its construction was financed by his vizir, Muhammed Khudaiot, who chose a site near the grave of his father, Jemaletdin. Anau was born...
Geokdepe. Saparmurat Haji mosque Geokdepe. Saparmurat Haji mosque
Geokdepe is a mosque, fortress ruins and cemetery 40 minutes by car to the west of Ashgabat. This site includes the remains of the ancient fortress of Geokdepe and the modern Saparmyrat Haji Mosque. Geok-Depe is also a fortress from the 19thcentury, where a particularly bloody battle took place between the Turkmen and the Russians in 1881, when the Russian Empire made an attempt to conquer Turkmenistan. In January, 1881 the Russians surrounded the Geok Depe fortress and began to bombard it...
Kow-Ata. Father of Caves Kow-Ata. Father of Caves
Kow-Ata Underground Lake is located in Baharly (formerly Bakharden) in the foothills of the Kopet-Dag Mountains (107 km to the west of Ashgabat). The Turkmen name, Kow-Ata, means "father of caves". At first glance, this underground area appears like magnificent auditorium: the overall length of the cave is 230m, its height reaches 20 m, and its width is at some points 57 m...
Mausoleum of Mane Baba Mausoleum of Mane Baba
Mausoleum is situated in a small village named Mane in the Kahka region of Turkmenistan. It was built during the reign of the Seljuk Empire in the 11th and 12thcenturies. This mausoleum was constructed over the grave of the famous follower of Sufism and great philosopher of Eastern literature, Abu Said Maneyi, who lived from 968-1049. It was built in approximately the mid-11th century. In his early childhood, Abu Said began his education. At the age of 12 he could already recite three thousand lines in Arabic language by heart. He studied in Mary and was educated by famous men of that period, Abu-Zahir and Abu-Fazil...
The fortress of Nadir Shah The fortress of Nadir Shah
22 km to the south of the Kahka region sits the fortress of the great ruler, Nadir Shah. The fortress was built on orders of Nadir-Shah himself in the 18th century. It was built in a rectangular form with walls reaching one thousand meters in length and 3 m high, and surrounded by a large moat...
Mausoleum of Il-Arslan Mausoleum of Il-Arslan
Mausoleum of Il-Arslan is connected with the name of Fakhr-ad-din Razi, a scientist who died in Herat in 1208. The oriental date of the construction of the mausoleum is somewhere in the 12th and 13thcenturies. The mausoleum presents a small, almost square structure, crowned by a twelve-sided marquee. The eastern facade and door has beautiful decorative trim, made of ornamental masonry of baked brick...
Mausoleum of Sultan Tekesh Mausoleum of Sultan Tekesh
Tekesh was the 12th century Khorezm Shah who made Khorezm great with conquests as far away as Khorosan (present day northern Iran and Afghanistan). He built this mausoleum for himself, along with a large madrassah and library (which has not survived) on the same spot. After his death in 1200 he was buried here...
Minaret of Kutlug Timur Minaret of Kutlug Timur
The revival of Khorezm and its capital city, literally from the ashes, is connected with the name of its Golden Horde governor - General Kutlug Timur (1321-1335) and his wife, Turabek Khanym. The Minaret of Kutlug Timur is the tallest minaret in Central Asia. Its height is 62 m, and is decorated with bands of brick and a few remaining turquoise tiles. 145 winding steps lead to the top of the minaret. This is one of the more impressive points in Kunya-Urgench... ...
Najmeddin Kubra Mausoleum Najmeddin Kubra Mausoleum
Najmeddin Kubra Mausoleum is the holiest spot in Kunya-Urgench. He was a famous 12th and 13th century Khorezm Muslim teacher and poet, founder of the Sufi Kubra order. His tomb is believed to have healing properties and you may find pilgrims praying here. The building has three domes and a fine, unrestored, tiled portal...
Mausoleum of Turabek-Khanym Mausoleum of Turabek-Khanym
The largest building in the plain of Konye-Urgench was the Mausoleum of Turabek-Khanym. Turabek-Khanym was the daughter of Uzbek Khan who converted the area to Islam. The building holds a mosaic of 365 interlocking geometric tiles that give the appearance of the night sky. There are arches and niches and tiling that suggest time keeping and calendar keeping...
Margiana, margush… what is coorect? Margiana, margush… what is coorect?
Margiana… What is the source of this stirring name, which has entered history textbooks as a symbol of the buried mysteries of time? It is no idle saying that sooner or later every mystery gains an explanation. At the turn of the 20th century A.D., almost four thousand years later, an enigmatic Margiana, which is stuck in its descendants' memories only owing to the angry words of Darius I, carved on a famous Behistun cliff: "The country of Margush became rebellious..", has not only come back from oblivion but found its own true place in mankind's development...
Old and New Nissa Old and New Nissa
Nisa, the ancient Nicaea, the capital of Parthaunisa and a sacred city. A royal fortress built in the mid-2nd century Av.JC. fortress at Nisa was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 2007. Nisa is described by some as one of the first capitals of the Parthians. It was founded by Arsaces I (reigned c. 250 BC - 211 BC), and was reputedly the royal necropolis of the Parthian kings, although it has neither been established that the fortress at Nisa was a royal residence nor a mausoleum...