Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
ASHGABAT
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12 / POP 1 MILLION
With its lavish marble palaces, gleaming
gold domes and vast expanses of mani-
cured parkland, Ashgabat ('the city of
love' in Arabic) has reinvented itself as a
showcase city for the newly independent
republic and is definitely one of Central
Asia's - if not the world's - strangest plac-
es. Built almost entirely off the receipts of
Turkmenistan's oil and gas revenues, the
city's transformation continues at break-
neck speed, with whole neighbourhoods
facing the wrecking ball in the name of
progress, and gleaming white marble
monoliths springing up overnight like
mushrooms.
Originally developed by the Russians
in the late 19th century, Ashgabat became
a prosperous, sleepy and largely Russian
frontier town on the Trans-Caspian railway.
However, at 1am on 6 October 1948, the city
vanished in less than a minute, levelled by
an earthquake that measured nine on the
Richter scale, killing more than 110,000
people (two-thirds of the then population).
Ashgabat was rebuilt in the Soviet style,
but its modern incarnation is somewhere
between Las Vegas and Pyongyang, with
a mixture of Bellagio fountains, Stalin-
ist ministries of state and various monu-
ments and statues designed to help foster
a sense of national unity and identity. At
its heart it's a surprisingly relaxed city,
with a varied dining scene and no short-
age of quirky sights, making it a pleasant
place to spend a few days absorbing Turk-
menistan's bizarre present before heading
into the rest of the country to discover its
fascinating past.
1
¨Sights
former president), the
Ministry¨of¨Fair-
ness
, the
Ministry¨of¨Defence
and the
Ruhyyet¨Palace
, all of which were built
by the French corporation Bouygues Con-
struction, the one time court builder to
Niyazov. Behind this is the
Majlis
(Turk-
menistan's parliament building).
Facing what used to be the central
Ashgabat location of the Arch of Neutral-
ity, is the
Earthquake¨ Memorial
(Map
p376)
, a bombastic bronze rendering of a
bull and child (the baby Niyazov), under
which lurks the
Earthquake¨ Museum
(Map p376;
h
9am-6pm)
F
, which is cur-
rently being renovated. Further down this
long strip of parkland is the
Soviet¨war¨
memorial
(Map p376)
, a pleasingly sub-
tle structure with an eternal flame at its
centre. The strip ends with
Magtymguly¨
State¨University
, the country's leading
educational institution.
Statue¨of¨Lenin¨&¨Around¨
STATUE
(Map p376; off Azadi köçesi)
The statue of Lenin
in a small park off Azadi köçesi, is a charm-
ingly incongruous assembly of a tiny Lenin
on an enormous and very Central Asian
plinth surrounded by fountains. Behind
Vladimir Illych is the Magtymguly Theatre
(p382), where traditional Turkmen perform-
ances can be seen. Across the road, Lenin
faces an austere concrete building that was
once the
Archive¨of¨the¨Communist¨Party¨
of¨Turkmenistan
. Its walls feature mod-
ernist concrete sculptures made by Ernst
Neizvestny, a Russian artist who lived and
worked in Ashgabat during the 1970s.
Museum¨of¨Fine¨Arts¨
MUSEUM
(Map p376;
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39 61 42; Alishera Navoi köçesi
88; admission 33M;
h
9am-6pm Wed-Mon)
The
pricey Museum of Fine Arts is located in an
impressive building with a big rotunda, two
tiers and lots of gold. The collection contains
some great Soviet-Turkmen artwork: happy
peasant scenes with a backdrop of yurts and
smoke-belching factories. There is also a col-
lection of Russian and Western European
paintings and a fine selection of Turkmen
jewellery and traditional costumes. Guided
tours in English are available for a further
US$10 per person.
Carpet¨Museum¨
MUSEUM
(Map p380;
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44 68 09; Atamurat Nyazov köçesi
158; admission 33M, tour 66M;
h
9am-6pm Mon-
Fri, 9am-2pm Sat)
The large, modern Carpet
Museum has a vast white-marble facade and
high entrance fees, though these are worth
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Central Ashgabat
Being all but wiped from the earth in 1948,
Ashgabat was rebuilt into a ho-hum, low-
rise Soviet city of no great beauty. However,
since independence the city has again been
demolished in vast swathes and is unrecog-
nisable as the Soviet provincial capital of
two decades ago.
Independence¨Square¨
SQUARE
(Map p376)
At the centre of Ashgabat is
the enormous Independence Square, on
which sits the golden-domed
Palace¨of¨
Turkmenbashi
(the place of work of the
