Ashgabat

Ashgabat

Ashgabat is the capital of Turkmenistan, located in an oasis at the northern foot of the Kopet-Dag Range and on the edge of the Karakum Desert. Ashgabat grew out of the ruins of the city of Konjikala on the Silk Road, which was first mentioned as a wine-producing village in the 1st-2nd centuries BC and was destroyed by an earthquake in the 1st century BC. Because of its advantageous location on the Silk Road, Konjikala was rebuilt and prospered until the Mongol destruction in the 13th century. It then survived as a small village until the Russians took over in the 19th century. The town was founded in 1881 as a Russian military fort and was named after the nearby Turkmen settlement of Askhabad. Today Ashgabat is an administrative, industrial, transportation and cultural hub. The city is home to glass factories, carpet weaving and cotton mills, and metal-working shops. Its spectacular natural environment has also made it a center for the film industry. It is home to several institutions of higher education, including the Turkmen A.M. Gorkii State University, as well as polytechnic, agricultural and medical institutes. The unique Institute of the Desert is part of the Turkmen Academy of Sciences, which was founded in 1951. The city has an opera house and theatres, along with several museums. Ashgabat pays tribute to Turkmen, Turkic and other Islamic poets and heroes with numerous statues. Many monuments have been erected since independence in 1991 to mark Turkmenistan's governance: to neutrality, to the constitution, to Turkmenistan's renaissance and to independence.