Ashgabat from A to Z: map, hotels, attractions, restaurants, entertainment. Shopping, shops. Photos, videos and reviews about Ashgabat.
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The capital of Turkmenistan, Ashgabat, like most of its “brothers” in Central Asian capitals, traces its history back to a modest settlement of the Tekin tribe. This Turkic-speaking people once took a fancy to a small plot of land in the foothills of the Kopetdag mountain range at the intersection of caravan roads and gave the new place the poetic name Eshg-abad, which literally means “inhabited by lovers.” At the end of the 19th century. The troops of the Russian Empire came to Eshg-abad and founded a military garrison, then they built a railway, and by the beginning of the 20th century, the inconspicuous settlement turned into a completely modern city of 30 thousand people. Today Ashgabat is an amazingly beautiful snow-white city, in which the authentic oriental flavor and European spirit perfectly complement each other: here you can still wander all day long in the narrow passages of noisy bazaars, and then relax in the lounge bar overlooking the Presidential Palace.
How to get to Ashgabat
You can arrive from Moscow to Ashgabat on Turkmenistan Airlines flights departing from the capital of our homeland on all days of the week except Sunday. Another air carrier, S7, flies to the capital of Turkmenistan from Moscow Domodedovo twice a week - on Tuesdays and Saturdays.
From the airport of Turkmenistan named after. The Great Saparmurat Turkmenbashi is easily accessible to the city center by taxi or private driver - the trip will cost about 5-6 USD, the exact price should be checked upon boarding.
Prices on the page are as of September 2018.
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Transport in the city
The most convenient way to get around Ashgabat is by taxi, since they are extremely cheap and almost every car, both with and without checkers, is ready to take you to any distance. The tariff must be discussed before boarding the car.
In the city you can also ride trolleybuses and buses - more for the sake of exoticism than for business reasons. Travel in them is even cheaper than in a taxi, but the speed is much lower.
Cuisine and restaurants of Ashgabat
Ashgabat fast food - manti (dumplings with steamed minced lamb) and a variety of “dense” pies with meat, onions and potatoes. In national cuisine restaurants you can eat your fill of pilaf - there are more than 30 varieties of it, as well as try a variety of exotic meat: camel, mountain goat and other wild artiodactyls. Exceptions are pork (according to religious norms) and horse meat, which is prohibited by law.
Another gastronomic “trick” of Turkmenistan is white fish of the Caspian Sea. Sturgeon and stellate sturgeon are especially tasty at Asuda Nusay, on Alisher Navoi Street. In addition, Ashgabat has a lot of establishments serving friendly cuisines - mainly Central Asian, Iranian and Middle Eastern. It’s worth stopping by the Lebanese Dip Club for shawarma, the Turkish Erzurum for national pizza “pide” and the Asian Minara.
Shopping and shops
For inexpensive souvenirs and expensive works of applied art, go to the bazaar with the simple and clear name “tolkuchka”, bustling with life on Saturdays and Sundays not far from the airport (it’s worth taking a taxi). Here you can buy whatever your heart desires - from lamb skin and skullcap to a colorful robe and an intricate carpet. The flea market winds down its activities around 14:00, so it is recommended to go there in the morning. At the Russian bazaar “Gulistan” you can buy fruits and vegetables, clothes, home decoration and other usual market items.
The main “carpet” place in Ashgabat is the store at the Carpet Museum. The cost of products ranges from 10 USD for a modest felt mat to 500 USD for an impeccably woven beautiful carpet. Printed products - books, albums, postcards, etc. can be found in the bookstore at the Ministry of Culture and Miras (in the very center of the city, next to the University).
It is worth finding works of painting in the “Muhammad” art gallery.
Entertainment and attractions of Ashgabat
Considering the short “adult” history of Ashgabat, there are no ancient monuments on its territory. In the surrounding area (15 km to the west) it is worth visiting the ruins of the ancient settlement of Nisa, dating back to the 1st millennium BC. e., since 2007 included in the UNESCO World Heritage List. The city was once the capital of the powerful Parthian kingdom and was founded by King Mithridates I. Here you can see the remains of two fortresses - Old and New Nysa, the royal residence and “office”, respectively, as well as temples, palace halls, the royal treasury and tombs of the Arsacid dynasty.
Also 15 km from Ashgabat, but in the other direction, is the native village of Turkmenbashi Kipchak. Here you can see how a tidy sum of 100 million dollars was embodied in a white marble mosque named after you know who. Its total area is 18 thousand (!) square meters. km, and the prayer hall can simultaneously accommodate 10,000 believers. Here, in the sarcophagus, the hero of the occasion himself rests.
Another gastronomic “trick” of Turkmenistan is white fish of the Caspian Sea. Sturgeon and stellate sturgeon are especially tasty.
It is interesting to visit the museums of Ashgabat - the wonderful Carpet Museum, which tells about the history of carpet weaving, traditions and methods of weaving carpets, and also displays many artifacts - from the oldest specimen (17th century) to the modern giant of 301 square meters. m, called “The Golden Age of the Great Saparmurat Turkmenbashi”. At the National Museum you can learn more about the history of the country and see objects found at the excavations of Merv, Nisa, Koneurgench, and at the Museum of Fine Arts you can appreciate the works of Russian, European and Central Asian artists on Turkmen themes. The National Treasury exhibits silver jewelry for women and horses (!) and copies of gold sculptures of Altyn Tepe.
You should definitely visit the colorful medieval bazaars: the huge Dzhygyllyk, Gulistan, Lalezar and Tekinsky bazaar.
Among the architectural structures of our time, the Turkmenbashi and Rukhyet palaces, the Independence Monument and the Arch of Neutrality, business centers, parks and fountains stand out. You can breathe fresh air surrounded by sculptures of great figures of the Turkmen people - from the mythical Oguz Khan to the Seljuk sultans, spiritual leaders and poets - in Independence Park.
“Where are the people?” – this is the question people most often ask when they see photographs of the white marble capital of Turkmenistan. And indeed, there are no people in the new Ashgabat. There are huge new houses, lined with marble, wide avenues, parks, gardens, fountains, but no people. Ashgabat is divided into two parts - the old and the new city. The city of the living and the city of the dead. Today I will tell you about the new Ashgabat.
I want to say right away that I do not criticize or ridicule, I do not admire or envy. I show you a completely different world, and draw your own conclusions in the comments.
New Ashgabat was founded by the great Turkmenbashi in the early 2000s. It was he who ordered the construction of all houses from white marble. “We build only with white marble,” said Saparmurat Niyazov. “Greedy people don’t understand this, they try to build from something else, they have to give orders.” In 2013, Ashgabat was included in the Guinness Book of Records as the city with the largest number of buildings decorated with white marble. At that time, the total surface area covered with marble in Ashgabat was 4.514 million square meters. meters.
The new president and father of the Turkmen people, Berdimuhamedov, continued the glorious traditions.
From official media:
White marble not only gives buildings an elegant look, but also reflects the sun's rays, which reduces the heating of the walls in the summer, and in winter, in cloudy weather, creates a more “sunny” mood.
The Turkmen authorities once stated that they import marble for cladding directly from Italy. But the opposition media say that this marble is not always of the appropriate quality, that after a couple of years dark spots and stains appear on it, and that marble tiles tend to fall off the facades of houses, scaring passers-by.
The city is being practically rebuilt from scratch, and a lot of money has been poured in. Not a single city in the post-Soviet space was showered with money like Ashgabat. The only problem with all this white marble splendor is that it is designed and built according to Soviet textbooks from the middle of the last century. If Stalin lived in our time, he would build Ashgabat... Wait... Turkmenbashi, Stalin...
All these wide avenues, gigantic squares, huge buildings - we have already seen all this in Moscow in the 50s and in other cities. Small-scale development, huge distances that are difficult for a person to overcome. Architecture in the service of the regime should suppress personality, show all the insignificance of a person caught in these decorations. Propaganda of ideology through art, which was appropriate 70 years ago, looks strange in the modern world.
01. I look out of the hotel window in the morning, and the street is empty! No one is walking, no one is in a hurry to work. There is no one at all. 
02. Ashgabat is being built at an incredible pace. Giant parks and squares, houses at a great distance from each other. All this is empty. Who will go for a walk in this park? 
03. During the day there is not a single passerby in the city center... 
04. In the evening there is not a single passerby in the city center... 
05. At night there is not a single passerby in the city center... 
06. During the day, parks and squares are deserted. 
07. At night, parks and squares are deserted. 
08. The central part is generally closed to people. This is the presidential palace with golden domes. You cannot approach it, it is strictly forbidden to remove it.
Of course, this is what Berdimuhamedov promised:
Here constructive decisions will be made aimed at ensuring a peaceful, prosperous and happy life for the citizens of our country, impetus will be given to large-scale achievements in order to successfully implement our main slogan “The State is for the People.”
09. Do you recognize the style? This is Turkmenbashi’s reinterpretation of the Stalinist Empire style. 
10. The world went through a period of totalitarian aesthetics in the middle of the last century. We have already seen all this gigantomania, the transformation of the common man into part of the gray mass against the backdrop of luxurious palaces in China, in Hitler’s Germany, in Stalin’s Moscow. Now Turkmenistan has taken the baton. The city is for parades, not for people. 
11. City of the Dead. 
12. Even in the city center, near the monument to Ashgabat, there is no one. When I asked the locals where all the people were, they answered that they were at work. But after work no one appeared on the streets. They told me they were already home. But even on weekends the squares and streets are empty. 
13. The center can only be reached by car. Man should not cast his worthless shadow on great palaces. 
14. The area near the presidential palace. This is not a closed area, it’s something like our Red Square, but there are no people here. No one takes photographs, no one sells souvenirs. Seeing me, the soldiers with their hands advised me to quickly hide. But why? 
You can't walk here! – shouts a red-faced cop in a green uniform
- Why not? Is this a restricted area?
- No, this is the city center!
- Aren’t you allowed to walk in the center?
- People usually don't walk!
- What are they doing? Why don't they go?
- People are doing business, not walking!
15. The cop didn’t understand at all how someone decided to walk down the street. 
16. A completely extinct city 
17. Only lonely golden statues, rare janitors and cops with soldiers who make sure that no one appears on the street. 
18. Theater... 
19. Monument in the center 
20. New streets 
21. All buildings in the city have the same signs. Usually they simply write “Shop” or “Cafe” or “Business Center”. Individualism will not work. 
22. All signs are four colors - red, green, yellow and blue. There are several fonts for the whole city. Everything is strict. 
Everything is the same everywhere. 
23. No shop windows, no deviations from strict rules. Mirrored windows with nothing behind them. 
24. Logos of famous brands were allowed to be hung on one of the streets. Apparently, to create the appearance of life in the city of the dead. 
25. Underpass as a sign of a totalitarian regime. 
26. The underground passages are empty. 
27. Few people cross the empty streets at the top. 
28. The city is like a big scenery for a happy life. Nobody parks, nobody goes to the store. 
29. Upon closer examination, it turns out that all the signs of shops and cafes are also decoration. There is nothing. There is sometimes a light on outside the windows, but this is just decoration. 
30. Sometimes you can find oases of life. 
31. There are shops between the buildings. To make it clear what kind of store it is, it is decorated with neon pictograms. Here in the foreground is a furniture salon. 
32. And this is a cafe. Most likely, there is no cafe there, but that doesn’t matter. 
33. This is supposedly a store. 
34. Warm Turkmen evening... Residential area, but the streets are empty. 
35. These houses are considered elite; they are built for officials and nomenklatura. It has high ceilings, underground parking and central air conditioning. 
36. On the back façade people are drying carpets. 
37. The yard is deserted, a few parked cars and that’s it. 
38. There are no children on the playgrounds. 
39. Gardeners
40. New Ashgabat looks like this. 
41. And so. 
42. And so... This is not a passerby, this is a cop patrolling the street. 
43. And so. 
44. Recreation area 
45.
46. Park 
47. A city that should look good on postcards, a city for parades and proof of the strength and prosperity of Turkmenistan. A city for anything, but not for people. 
48. All buildings are illuminated. Electricity is free) 
49.
50. Library 
51. Prospects 
52. Pay attention to the streetlights. They are different on all streets; you can tell where you are by the streetlights. During the day it is empty. 
53. It’s also empty in the evening. 
54. Three lanes in one direction, three in the other. This is the entrance to the hotel. A car passes here once every 30 minutes. 
55.
56. Ashgabat is building a monorail. The most useless and inefficient form of public transport. 
57. Park 
58. A very large park. Count the people in it. 
59. There will be a forest here. 
60. The latest Ashgabat fashion is LED screens instead of signs. 
61. Tomorrow I will tell you about the city of the living. 
“Do you want to go to Ashgabat? Not yet? But in vain. I think that after reading this post, many will want to go to Turkmenistan. Shall we check? - says Georgy Gupalo.
1. As a rule, I prepare for a trip and read something about the country and attractions. This trip was no exception - I went on a trip with the understanding that I was waiting for a meeting with the Fabulous Sunny City. But reality still fired a control shot in the head. Turkmenistan is now one of the fastest growing countries in the world. Cities, highways, county roads, new villages, new resorts, high-speed railways, airports are being built... If you come to Turkmenistan in a year or two, you may not know anything - everything will be different. The speed of construction is amazing: several years ago they began building a mega-resort on the Caspian Sea, now 24 hotels from 3 to 5 stars have been built (in total there should be more than 60 hotels, dozens of shopping and entertainment centers), they are finishing the 640-kilometer highway from Ashgabat, along which you can will fly to the sea in almost 4 hours. I drove two dozen kilometers along this highway. This will never happen in Moscow - the road named after the Eternal Russian Dream. 
2. Ashgabat, according to the Turkmen leadership, should become a white marble capital. Now about 550 buildings are covered with white marble. Moreover, marble is not mined in the Turkmen mountains, but is imported from Italy, Vietnam and Turkey. They say that if a construction company cannot immediately provide the required amount of marble, then they are not given permission to begin construction. They are built mainly by the French, Iranians and Turks. Most of the complaints are against the Turks. They say that they build faster than anyone else, but they obviously do it poorly, stealing building materials. After all, it is necessary to build not just high-rise buildings, but earthquake-resistant buildings - Ashgabat shakes every day, four points can happen several times a year. There is the least trust in the Turks. The city center is already completely snow-white and in some places richly covered with gold. It’s hard to believe that seven or eight years ago all this unearthly beauty did not exist. 
3. Pay attention to the road surface, which does not melt at +55. The lanterns are covered with gold. Almost all other lamps in the city, as well as garbage cans and railings, are chrome plated. On the right is the Ministry of Defense. Turkmenistan is an independent state that emphasizes its neutrality. But there are a lot of military people in the city. In total, 26 thousand people serve in the army (population about 5 million). They even have their own navy in the Caspian Sea. Why such an army - I don’t know. As well as the number of police. And also the incredibly bloated staff of ministries and departments. Including exotic ones. For example, there is a ministry (department) for the Turkmen carpet or the Akhal-Teke horse breed. Let's say the Ministry of Culture and Media employs 800 people! It is clear that working in the ministry is more prestigious than picking cotton or herding camels. 
4. The country is actively fighting the cult of personality of Saparmurat Niyazov Turkmenbashi the Great: tens of thousands of his portraits were removed from the streets (now only portraits of the new president are everywhere, but he is not called Turkmenbashi) and the main 14-meter-high rotating behind the sun was moved from the center to a new district, worth 10 million dollars, a sculpture of the great leader of all Turkmens. All the remaining 14 thousand monuments, sculptures and busts, including numerous gilded statues of Turkmenbashi, remain in place. Photographing them is strictly prohibited. I filmed it secretly, but they still spotted me and whistled at my back. It’s good that at least they didn’t demand to erase it. No one explains the reason for the ban on filming. 
5. It is also strictly forbidden to photograph the Presidential Palace (pictured) and ALL government buildings (ministries and departments). There are an incredible number of police around, they watch very strictly and even at night they don’t let you film from the other side of the street - the whistle sounds constantly. Several times they tried to educate me, but, thank God, everything worked out. What saved them was the appearance of a decent person, a foreigner, and even from Russia, which they respect. But the ban always applies to everyone. It is also strictly forbidden to go to the square in front of the palace, walk or drive along the presidential fence - you can only look, and even then not for long. 
6. I took the previous photo very quickly when I was trying to persuade these girls to pose for me. But even that was spotted, and one policeman was already running in my direction, but I waved my hand to him, turned around and went back. The policeman was extremely unhappy, but since I left his area of responsibility, he decided not to pursue me.
In general, the whole city is filled with flowers and fountains. All this needs constant care, not only to keep it beautiful and even, but also because in the summer it is often +55 here - the plants need constant watering. And you won’t believe it - the whole city is not just covered in greenery, it’s covered in drip irrigation tubes. Okay, capital. We saw TENS of kilometers of forests planted in the desert, and every tree has a tube with water! Imagine, a thousand square kilometers of new forest with watering of every tree!!! In 10-20 years, Turkmenistan will be a country of forests. 
7. How to live in such a climate, you ask? And here it is: all public buildings and new residential buildings are built only with a central air conditioning system. You won't find an air conditioner anywhere on the wall of a house - everything is inside. The photo shows an ordinary residential building in the Turkmen capital. This is not a home for the elite. All sorts of people live here, even janitors. The building in the foreground is a regular public transport stop. It also has air conditioning inside, a huge plasma panel, an electronic bus schedule board and potted flowers. Note the chrome trash can on the right. By the way, all public transport in Turkmenistan is free! Get on the bus and ride around all day. 
8. A completely new stop, the kiosk is not open yet.
Ashgabat09 Ashgabat today
9. Behind the stop is one of the wonders of Turkmenistan - the world's largest indoor Ferris wheel - 95 m. Why covered? Again, to keep it fresh and not hot inside. 
10. Two facts to make the scale of the wheel clear: 24 cabins (they are visible) are designed for 6 people each, and the height of the small spire at the top is 17 meters. 
11.
12. In recent years, museums of incredible beauty have been built, and hundreds of sculptures of great people of the Turkmen people have been installed throughout the city. Many sculptures are covered at least partially with gold. In this place alone there are 27 sculptural groups and one huge, completely gilded statue of the Great Turkmenbashi Niyazov. By the way, in the back of the photo is the Niyazov Museum, which contains everything about the life of the great first secretary of the Communist Party of the Turkmen SSR and the gifts that he received. And behind me is the 118-meter Monument of Independence of Turkmenistan. It is also partially covered with gold, and under the monument itself there is a museum telling about the formation of independence of great Turkmenistan. What’s funny: the state is really incredibly ancient, maybe even the oldest in the world, but the power in it changed almost every century. From whom and when they became independent is difficult to say. Now from Russia, but we’ll see what will happen in 50-100 years. For now, all official delegations must visit the monument and lay flowers at its foot. 
13. Officials and local clergy. By the way, only religious figures and old people wear beards. Turkmenbashi forbade officials and youth from wearing mustaches and beards. Yes, war was declared on gold teeth. Apparently, the rule is still in effect. I didn’t even see small beards or mustaches on either officials or young people. I didn’t take care of my teeth, but I never came across gold crowns (so popular in the past). 
14. Now hundreds of people are building a new square in front of the new presidential palace around the clock. As I understand it, the Akhal-Teke horses will also be gilded. 
15. She’s such a beauty. Filmed from the hotel through glass. So please forgive the quality. 
16. There are a lot of buildings with interesting architecture, although they are placed without any logic. Here are three buildings along one avenue. Well, they don't fit together at all. There is clearly a lack of an integrated approach to construction and the development of a general master plan. In this regard, Astana is much smaller, but more interestingly designed. If my memory serves me right, then in Astana some Japanese architectural bureau was developing a master plan for the construction of the city. One can find fault with the Japanese design, but at least it is of some kind. There is none in Ashgabat. At least that's the impression I got. All roads are spotlessly clean and are washed several times a day. Please note that there are fountains between oncoming lanes. There are a lot of such fountains in the center. Let me remind you that next to the city there is a huge Karakum desert. 
17. The most interesting thing for us is the Turkmen solution to the housing issue.
A square meter of housing in Ashgabat costs 1.8 thousand dollars. This price includes all built-in appliances, plumbing, installed Internet and TV lines, and a central air conditioning system. Utility bills are PER YEAR - 10-20 dollars!!! You are not mistaken. Exactly in a year. The housing standard is 60 meters per person. All new buildings have ceilings no lower than 4 (four) meters. Respected people, large families and the very poor are provided with free housing. The rest can be purchased or received one by one. If a person has worked at an enterprise for more than seven years, then the state can pay 50% of the cost of the apartment, and the person receives the remaining 50% on a mortgage for 30 years at 1%. 
18. I apologize for the quality of the photo. This is an ordinary residential building. For ordinary people, not for officials or millionaires. How do you like the entrance? In this case, it is more correct to say “front door” icon smile Ashgabat today 
19. There are still many Khrushchev-era buildings in Ashgabat, but they are steadily being demolished and people are being relocated to new beautiful houses. Perhaps in ten years there will be nothing left of the Soviet period. Admiring the beauty of the new Ashgabat, I asked the question: what is it like in the outback? We know that the welfare of the country should not be judged by the capital. In front of you is a new Turkmen village. The construction is not finished yet, the improvement is also far away, but it is already clear that the peasants will live very well. The house stretches for a kilometer, and I have seen several such complexes. In other villages, separate cottages are being built. I repeat that the poor, respected workers and large families receive housing for free, while the villagers are simply resettled and their houses are demolished. Just don’t ask what happens to those who don’t want to move - I don’t know. 
20. What are the salaries in Turkmenistan? The average is $300, but no one limits you from receiving at least tens of thousands. Teachers receive 600-700 dollars a month (although I was told that this is at two rates). Education (including higher education) is free. Moreover, students receive the same $200-300 per month as a stipend. If vegetables cost 20-30 rubles per kilo (with our money), and meat costs about 100, there is almost no rent, and public transport is free, then you can live very well. Yes, previously 800 liters of gasoline were given to everyone free of charge. Now gasoline is paid - about 7 rubles per liter. 
21. I received these five pieces of paper in exchange for a 5,000 ruble bill. The exchange rate is 13.5 rubles per manat. Rubles can only be exchanged at a bank; they are not accepted anywhere. You can pay with dollars almost everywhere, even in a regular grocery store. True, the course there will be quite extortionate. People respect dollars, and, as a rule, savings are saved in dollars or euros. Loans are also given in foreign currency. What caused this, I cannot understand. The fact is that their exchange rate is fixed and has not changed for more than 5 years. Hasn't changed at all. Not a penny.
I talked to one Turkmen my age in line at the exchange office.
- Why do you buy dollars?
- My daughter is studying at the institute in Russia. Here I am helping her.
- Do many people send you to study in Russia or abroad?
- Yes. Our quality of education is lower.
- But here is our own home, our own culture. Again, the stipend is good.
- Here, in order to go to college, you have to give such a bribe, oh.
No matter how much I tortured him and his friend, they never told me how much it costs to go to university. They immediately fell silent and began to insist that they didn’t even know the order. Many people say that corruption in the country is terrible.
Previously, the banknotes had a portrait of Turkmenbashi, now they are great people of Turkmenistan. 
22. People, by the way, are very nice, friendly and open. In Ashgabat, almost everyone speaks Russian, many Turkmens speak pure Russian, even without signs of an accent. There are much fewer Russian speakers in the outback, and almost none in the villages. Almost all women wear national dresses. Women are a minority in European dresses. 
23. There is a rule: schoolgirls wear green dresses, college students wear blue, and female students wear red. The rule is mandatory for everyone. With no exceptions. Short skirts and jeans are prohibited. Just like men's shorts. Only at home. Boys in European clothes - black trousers, white shirt. And a mandatory skullcap for everyone. The Internet was completely banned until recently. Now only American social networks are blocked. Video games are prohibited. But the casinos are open. Smoking in public places is strictly prohibited, there are restrictions on the import of cigarettes, and a tough war is being waged against drug addiction. I think that in a few years there won’t be a single drug addict there. Wine and vodka are produced and sold freely. 
24. Russian girls (pictured) also wear all national clothes. 
25. College students and teacher. 
26. Schoolchildren. 
27. Elderly Turkmen. He speaks Russian very well and knows the names of many Russian modern publishing houses. 
28. Women gardening workers. If you, having read about Turkmen miracles, are already planning to go to Turkmenistan for permanent residence, then keep in mind that for foreigners who want to marry Turkmen women, the state dowry is set at 50 thousand dollars. There is a second option for obtaining citizenship - creating a new enterprise with the obligatory recruitment of a certain number of Turkmens to work. After several years of successful operation of the enterprise, you can obtain a residence permit and then citizenship. There is nothing good for a non-Turkmen in the country. It is just as impossible to occupy any significant position in the leadership of a country, city, etc. 
29. Ballet, opera and circus are prohibited in Turkmenistan. Turkmenbashi the Great once said: “I don’t understand ballet. Why do I need it? ...It is impossible to instill in the Turkmens a love of ballet if they do not have it in their blood.” “I once went with my wife to the opera Prince Igor in Leningrad and didn’t understand anything.” After gaining independence, his hands were completely untied, and opera and ballet were banned. But writers are revered and respected. This alley in the city center is decorated with busts of the most respected Turkmen writers of the 20th century. There are very few bookstores, they are all small, half of the books now come from Russia. Foreign newspapers and magazines are still banned, but local magazines have huge circulations, even by our standards. For example, one women's magazine (I didn't ask for the name) has a circulation of more than 100 thousand copies. 
30. This is what it is like, modern Ashgabat. 
After five seasons of excavations at the Akdepe site in 2010, they came to the conclusion that it had been inhabited since the 6th millennium BC. e., and continuously, before that it was believed that the site was abandoned by people at the turn of the 2nd-1st millennium BC. Ceramics of the Neolithic Jeitun culture (VI-V millennium BC) and all subsequent eras, including the XIII-XV centuries, the times of Mongol rule, were found on Akdepe.
City `s history
Linguists derive the name of the city from two words in Persian: “eshg” (“ashg”) - “love” and “abad” - “populated, comfortable”. Based on the meaning of these two words, Ashgabat is often called the “city of love”. The name Ashkabad was given to their aul, which stood not far from the present city, by the Tekin Turkmens. There is another, very reasonable version of the origin of this name - on behalf of one of the kings of the Parthian dynasty of the Arsacids (Arsacids), whose name was Ashk. The Nisa historical and archaeological complex, consisting of the Old Nisa and New Nisa fortresses, is located 18 km from Ashgabat. In the 3rd century BC. e. New Nisa was the capital of Parthia, and Old Nisa was the residence of the king. During the heyday of the Parthian kingdom (III century), Old Nisa was called Mithridatkert, named after King Mithridates I. The ruins of Nisa are fragments of a palace columned hall, sanctuaries and fortifications. Papyri in the Parthian language, many everyday artifacts, and painted clay statues were found here. Until 1881, Ashgabat belonged to Persia, but after Russia and Persia agreed that it came under Russian rule.
It was part of the “Great Game” - as it was called in the 19th century. rivalry between the Russian and British empires for influence in this part of Central Asia, including Persia. Territorial expansion and espionage and diplomatic intrigues came from both sides. Ashgabat became a kind of bargaining chip in this game at that stage, which ended in 1907. A border military fortification called Ashgabat was built here, which became the administrative center of the Trans-Caspian region.
Very soon the city began to grow rapidly. Which is not surprising: ancient caravan routes passed through it: to the south, through the gorges - to Persia, to the north to Khiva; east to Bukhara. And traders and artisans, as well as Persians, immediately rushed to the city, those of them who were persecuted in their native country for religious reasons. In 1885, a railway was built to Askhabad, a year later reaching Chardzhou, another 10 years to Kushka, and in 1899 to . At the beginning of the 20th century. About 37 thousand people already lived here: Persians, Russians, Armenians, Azerbaijanis, in total representatives of 15 nationalities. There were only the least number of Turkmens - 2%. In December 1917, Soviet power was established in the city. In 1919 it was renamed Poltoratsk, in honor of the Bolshevik P.G. Poltoratsky, who was shot in 1918 by workers who rebelled against the Bolsheviks. In 1924, the city became the capital of the Turkmen SSR, and in 1927 its original name was returned to it with a slight amendment: Ashgabat became Ashgabat.
Despite its 130-odd years, it is considered a young city. Alas, with a sad reason. In October 1948, a magnitude nine earthquake occurred in Ashgabat, killing about 176 thousand people; the city and surrounding villages lost 98% of their buildings. The restoration of Ashgabat began in 1949. In 1962, the Karakum Canal reached Ashgabat, thereby eliminating the acute problem of water supply. In 1986, Saparmurat Niyazov (1940-2006) was appointed first secretary of the Communist Party of the Republic. In 1991, Ashgabat (Ashgabat in Turkmen) became the capital of independent Turkmenistan, and Niyazov became the president, Turkmenbashi (“father of the Turkmen”). He made Ashgabat the front showcase of his unlimited power, emphasizing this with monumental, pompous buildings and monuments. Even the invited Western and Turkish architects adhered to this style, but in a professional sense they did their job well, and the city really acquired a majestic appearance.
For more than 10 years, the annual Universal International Exhibition “White City - Ashgabat” has been taking place here. Its goal is to attract foreign companies to cooperation in the field of construction and maintenance of urban infrastructure. It turns out that the main witness here is the city itself, as it looks today, arousing admiration for its buildings, the amount of greenery on the streets, and its order. Over the past twenty years, the population of Ashgabat has at least doubled, and this is the highest figure of its kind in the post-Soviet space.
Portraits of Turkmenbashi in Ashgabat are gradually being replaced by images of horses of the famous Akhal-Teke breed, bred in Turkmenistan about 5,000 years ago. But not only. Portraits of the current president of the country, Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov (born in 1957, elected in 2007), however, are hung no less than images of horses. In 2010, the “Arch of Neutrality” monument with a giant gilded statue of Turkmenbashi mounted on a rotating base was removed from the city’s central square so that it would be illuminated by the sun’s rays from dawn to dusk. But in December 2011, this monument reappeared in the capital of Turkmenistan, however, now on the outskirts, in the southern part of Bitarap Turkmenistan Avenue in the foothills of the Kopetdag, but there Turkmenbashi stands at an altitude of 95 m above sea level. This, of course, is a signal to society, and an extremely clear one: the “boss” will always be watching you. Is this why travelers unanimously note that the streets of Ashgabat are unusually sparsely populated for a southern city? Marble palaces and fountains seem to be not for its inhabitants. Moreover, the comparison is not made with respect to European cities, but with nearby Muslim Tashkent, not to mention Baku, where life is in full swing at any time of the day. Or is this how the complete, absolute loyalty to the authorities, instilled in the people over the years of the authoritarian regime, is manifested, when any opinion different from the official one could cost a broken fate? But this is not at all a “tribal” feature of Ashgabat. Actor and poet Leonid Filatov (1946-2003) was very fond of this city, where he spent his childhood and early youth. Filatov remembered him as free, open, and friendly, which is something that subsequent generations of Ashgabat intellectuals could not say about him. After several stories related to the disappearance without a trace of their colleagues, relatives and friends who did not agree with the Niyazov regime, in the 1980s, writers, artists, scientists, and journalists emigrated en masse to Russia and Western European countries. This year, the president of the country said that dissident emigrants can visit Ashgabat, no one will interfere with them. However, this statement does not inspire confidence in any of the emigrants, as they write on their website “Gundogar”.
There is another reason for the quiet lifestyle of the residents of Ashgabat: the rest of the cities and towns of the country cannot be compared with the capital either in terms of amenities or in the number of jobs, and the majority of city residents are most afraid of losing what they have Such sentiments also have a positive effect - Ashgabat has an extremely low crime rate. But one cannot help but notice that the residents of Ashgabat also feel pride in the capital of their state, the most beautiful, as they sincerely believe, city on Earth. And they try to behave in such a way as not to damage his current reputation in any way. Unlike politics, they willingly talk about this beautiful city and are always ready to back up their words with warm hospitality. This age-old rule of life of the Turkmen people cannot be abolished by any regime.
general information
Capital of Turkmenistan, the economic and cultural center of the state.Based in 1881
Additional official status: velayat (region).
Administrative division: 5 etraps (districts).
Languages: Turkmen (official), Russian, Uzbek.
Ethnic composition: Turkmens - 77%, as well as Russians, Uzbeks, Azerbaijanis, Turks, Armenians, Persians, Ukrainians, Kazakhs, Tatars - more than 100 nationalities in total.
Religions: Islam, Orthodoxy and other faiths.
Currency unit: manat
River: a canal called the Ashgabat River in the city.
Most important airport: international airport Saparmurat Turkmenbashi.
Numbers
Area: about 300 km2.Population: 909,900 people (2009).
Population density: about 3033 people/km 2 .
Height above sea level: 214-240 m.
Economy
Industry: mechanical engineering, metalworking, furniture, food; light industry: spinning and weaving enterprises, silk-winding cycle, carpet production.
An important transport hub.
Average January temperature:+3.5°C.
Average temperature in July:+31.3°C.
Average annual precipitation: 200-230 mm.
Average annual air humidity: 56% There is no precipitation in summer.
Attractions
■ Religious buildings: Ertugrul Gazi Mosque (gift of the Turkish government). “Turkmenbashi Ruhi” (“Spirit of Turkmenbashi”), in the village of Kipchak, in the homeland of S. Niyazov. 15 km from the city Orthodox churches of Alexander Nevsky and St. Nicholas the Wonderworker (XIX century, reconstruction of the XX century).
■ Buildings and constructions: palace complex "Oguz Khan" - the residence of the President of Turkmenistan, the National Library, the Mejlis building, the Academy of Sciences complex, the Academic Drama Theater named after. Mollanepesa, Bayram Khan monument, Independence monument, Constitution monument, “Arch of Neutrality” monument with a statue of Turkmenbashi, Bakt Koshgi Wedding Palace, Alem cultural and entertainment center.
■ Museums: National Museum of History and Ethnography (rich archaeological collection). Carpet Museum, Museum of Fine Arts (works of Russian, Western European and Central Asian artists on Turkmen themes), National Treasury (silver jewelry for women, as well as horses, copies of gold sculptures of Altyn Tepe).
■ The first park (founded in 1890), Alley of Inspiration - an art and park complex.
■ 18 km from the city - Historical and cultural reserve "Nisa" - settlements of the 3rd century. BC e. - III century n. e. (listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site).
■ Bazaar “Dzhygyllyk” (“Hustle”).
Curious facts
■ In Ashgabat Street, the second tallest flagpole in the world is 133 m high (the first, 160 m high, is in North Korea), on which flutters the national flag of the country measuring 52.5 by 35 m and weighing 420 kg. The city is also proud of one of the largest fountain and sculpture complexes in the world, “Oguzkhan and Sons,” with 27 fountains covering an area of about 15 hectares.■ The Turkmen Carpet Museum contains about 2,000 carpets, the oldest of which dates back to the 17th century. The second largest handmade carpet in the world is also located here - “The Golden Age of the Great Saparmurat Turkmenbashi”. The area of the carpet is almost 301 m2 and the weight is more than a ton. In the museum store you can buy a carpet of almost any size, but if it was woven more than 20 years ago, it is considered historical value and special permission is required for its export.
■ At the end of the 19th century. there was a draft coat of arms of Askhabad. The importance of the city was symbolized by the crown of the Russian Empire, a camel caravan and a train. But this project remained only on paper.
■ Ashgabat is a branch of the Karakum Canal through which water flows, but in Ashgabat it is called a river. The concrete channel of Ashgabat was filled in 2006. Its width is from 12 to 20 m, its depth is up to 3.5 m. It flows from east to west for 11 km. Every kilometer there are openwork bridges. The banks are framed by parapets made of gray granite, behind them are park areas with gazebos, fountains and children's playgrounds.
■ Saparmurat Niyazov believed that hospitals should be located only in Ashgabat, so that patients, while undergoing treatment, could at the same time admire the beautiful capital. The dictator's absurd decision was strictly carried out. Currently, the country's healthcare system is still in the recovery stage.
■ All schoolgirls and students in Ashgabat wear uniforms, these are long blue or green dresses and trousers. The dress code also includes a mandatory skullcap on the head. Hair must be braided. If a girl allows herself to wear a short haircut in everyday life, when going to classes, she is obliged to wear a skullcap to which artificial braids are sewn.
As I already said, Ashgabat consists of two parts: a new city and an old city, empty, licked white marble scenery without people and old Soviet buildings with lively courtyards and noisy streets. Ashgabat has a tragic history. On October 6, 1948, one of the most destructive earthquakes in history occurred in the city. 90–98% of all buildings were destroyed. According to various estimates, from 1/2 to 2/3 of the city's population died. After the earthquake, the city was actually rebuilt. Today, the remnants of this Soviet building are considered the old city, which is gradually disappearing under the onslaught of the new, ceremonial white marble Ashgabat.
01. The center of Ashgabat is incredibly pleasant. A very clean, green post-Soviet city. 
02. There are a lot of people and cars here, there is little scenery here. 
03. All buildings are in good condition. 
04. Unfortunately, now all this is being demolished, since the old city does not fit into the new concept of white marble Ashgabat. 
05. For now, here it is. 
06. And just like that. 
07. There are houses like this. Look how lovely it is. 
08. The courtyards are the most ordinary. 
09. People seize land for themselves and make personal courtyards. 
10. Throughout Ashgabat, houses are hung with huge satellite dishes. There are plates even in remote villages. They are inexpensive, so every city resident considers it possible and necessary to buy a separate plate for themselves instead of installing one for several families. 
11. The boom of satellite television in Turkmenistan occurred at the end of the 90s. For many, it remains the only “window to the world”, because foreign press does not appear in the country, the Internet is very expensive, and access to many news resources is blocked or controlled by special services. They watch mainly Russian, Turkish and European channels via satellite. The most popular Russian one is TNT. 
12. A year ago, Ashgabat authorities issued an order to dismantle satellite dishes installed by residents of multi-storey buildings. In return, people were offered to connect to cable television or satellite dishes officially installed by the authorities. The human rights organization Human Rights Watch immediately raised a fuss, saying that the authorities want to completely isolate the residents of Turkmenistan from sources of independent information. According to the organization, after some Ashgabat residents refused to remove the dishes, unknown people appeared and destroyed the antennas without the consent of their owners. But I didn't notice any dismantling. 
13. But they are trying to fight with extensions. Previously, you could build whatever you wanted in your backyard, but now you can take no more than 4 meters. 
14. On the first floors, people usually make a separate entrance to their apartment, garage and summer kitchen. 
15. But they try not to stand out, otherwise the neighbors will snitch and tear everything down. 
16. Electricity is quite cheap in Ashgabat, so even the simplest shop or house has air conditioning. It is terribly hot here in the summer, and it is very difficult to live without air conditioning. The authorities are against air conditioners hanging on the facades of houses on the street side. In 2014, repair services began removing them from the walls of residential buildings “in order to improve the appearance of the city,” and then Ashgabat residents had to take to the streets and organize protests. 
Farid Tukhbatullin, head of the Turkmen Initiative for Human Rights:
The residents gathered about eighty people, roughly equally divided between women and men, while the police numbered about twenty people and about the same number of military personnel and employees of the Ministry of Homeland Security. There was no serious collision. Realizing that the matter could take a very serious turn if the conflict continued and residents of neighboring houses became involved, the officials reassured the people, promising not to demand the removal of air conditioners, and retreated along with the police and soldiers.
According to Tukhbatullin, the government’s war against air conditioners has been going on since 2012. Recalling the hot climate of Turkmenistan, he calls this a mockery. There are different versions of why the authorities behave this way: according to one of them, they are trying to achieve complete uniformity in the appearance of the streets, according to another, they are afraid that a bomb could be hidden under the air conditioners. Once it happened that during the passage of the presidential escort, the air conditioner broke off from one of the facades for some unknown reason.
In addition to installing air conditioners on the facades of houses, the authorities prohibit Turkmens from hanging laundry on their balconies, storing various rubbish there, and opening windows during public events. So the view of “free” Ashgabat opens from the courtyard.
17. Real Ashgabat 
18. Something has been captured here. 
19. There are several high-rise buildings in the center. 
20. Ashgabat also has very good roads. 
21. Schoolgirls have green dresses, students have red ones. 
22. A tourist cannot just come to Turkmenistan and live anywhere. We need to rent one of the hotels for foreigners, and there are not many of them. They are all good and expensive, because a foreigner should not have any bad impressions. 
23. The best hotel in the city is Sofitel Oguzkent. Rooms start at $300 per night. 
24.
25. I wouldn't say that the hotel is magical. But if I start talking about the shortcomings, you will say that I’m greedy. 
26. The coolest thing about this hotel is the view of the Presidential Palace, which cannot be photographed. But from the hotel window you can ;). I had to change my number. 
27.
28. Also in Ashgabat is the coolest monument to Lenin in the world. I don’t even know if this one should be put in a museum. 
29. The monument was laid on January 27, 1924, on the day of Lenin’s funeral, and on November 7, 1927 it was opened. Since then, no one has touched Lenin’s grandfather, even the powerful Ashgabat earthquake of 1948 bypassed him. The pedestal is decorated with majolica in the form of Turkmen carpets. I suspect that this helped the monument survive even in the era of golden statues. The statue of Lenin itself was cast from melted down cannons. In Soviet times, the pedestal, of course, was the Lenin Museum. 
30. They write that this is the only monument to Lenin in the capitals of the post-Soviet Central Asian republics. By the way, on the other side of the pedestal there is the inscription “Leninism is the path to the emancipation of the peoples of the East”) 
31. Ertogrulgazi Mosque, built in the Ottoman style. This is the largest mosque in Ashgabat. Immediately after gaining independence, Turkmenistan became friends with Turkey, so in 1998 a mosque appeared in the capital, built by a Turkish company at the suggestion of the Turkish prime minister and named after the Ottoman ruler Ertogrul.
32. In theory, it should be like the Blue Mosque in Istanbul. 
33. Locals also believe that the mosque “brings misfortune” because several people died during its construction. How strong this belief is is unknown, but the mosque was empty. In fact, Islam (like other religions) prohibits superstition, so the mosque was most likely empty because I came at the wrong time for prayer. On Fridays, they say, there are so many people here that traffic jams, rare for Ashgabat, even occur. 
34. Ashgabat is incredibly clean! Locals joke that the city is swept 25 hours a day. 
35. Ashgabat has been living without trolleybuses for several years now. Trolleybuses have been traveling around the Turkmen capital since 1964. New routes were opened until 2000, but after that the process went in the opposite direction. Shortly before the closure of the Ashgabat trolleybus network on January 1, 2012, there was only one route left in the city.
For a long time, the elimination of trolleybus routes was explained by repair work. They promised to soon restore the network and even optimize it, but in the end the trolleybuses stood idle in the depot. Instead, buses were released onto the streets. 
36. Local residents were not happy about this turn. According to their reviews in 2012, riding buses is very inconvenient: “Trolleybuses ran until 11 pm. And you can’t wait for buses after eight. Apparently, after the evening rush hour, drivers leave to get rich.” “Leaving to work” means leaving the route and going to work to order. Locals said that if someone managed to wait for the evening bus, then they had to pay twice as much for travel as during the day. The drivers did not deny this and admitted that they were forced into this mode of work by the foremen, who took the “evening earnings” for themselves. 
It is still unclear why the Ashgabat authorities eliminated trolleybuses. Local residents are inclined to believe that Berdymukhamedov, who is so sensitive to the appearance of the city, simply did not like the overhead wires. There is another option. Every morning and every evening Berdymukhamedov travels from home to work and back. At such moments, traffic in the city is blocked. Hiding from the president, buses can easily turn into neighboring streets, but with trolleybuses the situation is more complicated. That's why they decided to remove them.
37. In 2014, it became known that the Turkmen authorities donated unnecessary trolleybuses to Tajikistan. At the same time, Berdimuhamedov says at various international meetings and forums that Turkmenistan is systematically moving towards the use of environmentally friendly and resource-saving technologies in the transport field...
38. Station. You can’t film it either, so the shot is from afar. 
39. One of the attractions of Ashgabat is the city market, also known as the State Trade Center "Gulistan", also known as the Russian Bazaar. If the giant “Altyn Asyr” is primarily a clothing market and the main point of sale of carpets, then people go to the Russian Bazaar mainly for food. The bazaar is famous for its melons, smoked fish, and there are many varieties of the national bread Chorek. Previously, they say, black caviar was sold for $750 per kilogram. Today black caviar costs $1000 per kg, there is smuggling;). But at these prices you can buy a legal one in Moscow. This is also one of the few places in Ashgabat where you can buy street food.
The bazaar building was built back in 1982, but in 2001 it was “whitewashed” with marble by yet another Turkish company. 
40. The market is considered exemplary; under Turkmenbashi, foreign delegations were constantly brought here; it was a mandatory point in the excursion program. Even Putin came to the Russian Bazaar. Under Berdymukhamedov, the tradition was partially preserved. In addition, during the era of Turkmenbashi, the bazaar was the main “office” of the money changers; about two dozen people constantly sold dollars, rubles and euros here. Now money changers are banned, the black currency market has completely shrunk, and the authorities are actively fighting it.. 
41. Previously, there were two large markets in Ashgabat - Tekinsky and Russian. At the Tekinsky Bazaar, it was mainly locals who traded, and at the Russian Bazaar - representatives of other nations: Russians, Azerbaijanis, Armenians. Nowadays there is no such clear division by nationality. 
42. In 2007, the bazaar burned down. Traders say that the fire started around one in the morning, but firefighters did not appear at the market until morning, although there are no traffic jams in Ashgabat. They believe that someone set the bazaar on fire, and the mayor’s office was primarily interested in the arson. The mayor's office, which started the restoration of the clothing market, wanted to drive the traders out of here so that no one would interfere. But officials were apparently afraid to make a radical decision, because the market was very popular among the population. Due to the fire, many merchants lost all their goods and went bankrupt. Clothes are now sold here on the outskirts, and the market itself is mainly food. 
43. The health path on the outskirts of the city is 36 kilometers long! Turkmenbashi opened it so that people could walk on it in the mountains and be healthy. 
44. On weekends, locals come to the park near the trail and have picnics. 
45. Such a crowd of people in one place looks unusual. 
46. Such paintings are very rare in Turkmenistan. Usually people do not gather in groups. 
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50. Girls mostly wear dresses. I saw almost no one in jeans.
51. There are no traffic jams in Turkmenistan, unless the streets are blocked for the passage of the king. 