Ashgabat    Badkhyz Reserve    Dekhistan     Gonur-Depe     Kahka     Kugitang Nature Reserve     Kunya Urgench   Mary     Merv Oasis    Repetek Biosphere Reserve    Serakhs    Yekedeshik Cave Town

Ashgabat

Ashgabat (population 500,000), formerly Ashkhabad, the capital and the largest city of Turkmenistan, lies in the southwestern part of the country. Ashgabat is situated in the middle part of the foothill plain Kopetdag in an oasis near the Karakum Desert. The city developed around a Russian fortress built in 1881 at the crossroads of caravan routes; major growth began when it became a station on the Trans-Caspian Railroad in 1885. In 1948 the city was almost totally destroyed by an earthquake.

The city served as the capital of the Turkmen Soviet Socialist Republic from 1924 until 1991, when Turkmenistan became an independent republic.

Sightseeing and excursions

Ashgabat City tour 01-Half-day

Arch of Neutrality was built in 1998. The height of the Arch is 75 metres and it is the highest construction in Turkmenistan. On the top of the Arch is the golden statue of the President of Turkmenistan Saparmurad Niyazov, which rotates per 24 hours.

Lenin Square with the statue of Lenin, which was built in 1927.

Orthodox Church of Alexander Nevsky was built at the end of 19^th century. After the Bolshevik Revolution was used as a storehouse. Recently returned to the Christians.

Ertogrulgazi Mosque is the biggest mosque in Turkmenistan with 4 minarets and a huge dome. It was built in 1997.

Carpet Museum has a large collection of antique carpets, dating back to the 17^th century. There are also two biggest carpets, ever made in Turkmenistan: 192 square meters and 266 square meters. Each of them weights about one ton.

Ashgabat City tour 02  Half-day

Visit the "Talkuchka" (from the Russian word tolkat - to push), the Sunday Bazaar. It is said whatever you want is sold at the Talkuchka and the selection is far wider, the prices far lower than at any other stores in Turkmenistan.

Ashgabat City tour 03  Full-day

National Museum of History and Ethnography has a rich collection of ancient artifacts from Turkmenistan. More than 500,000 exhibits are displayed here in 9 halls. The highlight of the museum is a collection of ivory, discovered during the excavations at the Old Nissa, residence of Parthian kings from the Arshakid Dynasty.

The Archaeological site of Nissa includes the remains of Old and New Nissa. The city was an important centre of the Parthian State, which existed from the 3^rd century BC up to the 3^rd century AD. As the archaeological research shows, the township of New Nissa was the centre of the Parthian City. It was inhabited up to the 16^th - 17^th centuries. Old Nissa was a royal residence of the Parthian kings with the palace and temple, the depositories and the treasury. During the archaeological excavations about 2700 texts inscribed with black paint on the clay vessels fragments were discovered. The written language used in Nissa was of the Aramaic origin. It dates back to the 2^nd century BC.

Around Ashgabat tour 04  Full day

Bronze Age Site and Anau Mosque. Anau was the medieval city situated 12 kilometres to the southeast of Ashgabat. This site includes the remains of the Bronze Age settlement Anau-Depe (4^th - 3^rd millennium BC) and the fortress of Anau (3^rd century BC - 3^rd century AD). The name Anau derives from Abi-Nau, meaning "new water".     top

Badkhyz Reserve

Badkhyz Reserve, created in 1935, is situated in Mary region. The name of the reserve means "the place where wind begins". This geographical name reflects the real climate conditions of the spot. A variety of the animals, birds and reptiles can be found here. The reserve is also famous for pistachio-trees that grow in this region.

Dekhistan

Dekhistan is considered the most important medieval oasis of southwestern Turkmenistan. Here from 9^th to 14^th centuries stood the City of Misrian that reached its splendour when it belonged to the Shahs of Khorezm. The total area was about 200 hectares. A double ring of defensive walls surrounded it. Like most cities of its epoch, it was divided into well-fortified shakhristan (inner city) with citadel and rabad (a densely populated trade quarters) around it. Shakhristan was protected with two rows of high fortress wall with semicircle watchtowers. Three caravanserais were discovered on its territory. Glazed earthenware found in Dekistan is of great historical and cultural importance because of the text inscribed on it from the poem "Shah-name" written by the famous poet Firdousi.     top

Gonur-Depe

The first agricultural settlements appeared in the delta of the Murghab River as back as the 7^th millennium BC. Fertile silt coming from mountains, abundance of water and moderate climate had created favourable conditions for good crops. Among the sands of the eastern Karakum the archaeologists excavated the monumental castles and temples, in size competing with the buildings of Assiria and Babylon. In 1992 excavation work on the Gonur necropolis was begun as a part of the research programme in the fossil delta of the Murghab River. The tombs contained various utensils from the 3^rd millennium BC: mirrors, large pins, cosmetic bottles, silver ornamental objects, alabaster and ceramic vases. Many of these objects demonstrate how widely the ancient people traded with other Central Asian regions. The discovery of such a large Bronze-Age cemetery opens a new chapter in the history of Turkmenistan culture.

The ancient Margush, Margiana, Mouru and medieval Merv are essentially one and the same country through different eras. Scientists assume that the first worldwide religion Zoroastrianism is connected with the country of Margush. Archaeologists discovered four monumental fire temples there. Perhaps suffering indignity as the prophet of a new religion, Zoroaster strolled along the dusty roads of Margush. Perhaps here he began his religious mission, and there the ideas included in the holy Avesta were born and first became well known.

The golden age of Margush lasted from the 16^th to the 13^th centuries BC. The city of Gonur was the capital of this great agricultural civilisation. In the centre of the city a fortified palace enclosed by a great wall was located. Not far from the palace was a fortified temple, which walls and floors were covered with white gypsum. There were several special rooms in the temple where big jars, more than one metre in height, stood along the walls on the elevated platform. The special cult beverage prepared either from poppy seeds or mandrake roots, was kept in them. Cult beverages were widely used in Zoroastrianism. A recipe for such a drink was given in the Avesta. Nearly 300 large and small settlements and 30 temples have already been found in the country of Margush.     top

Kahka

About two hundred historical architectural monuments of the ancient times were discovered in the region of Kashka. These include Abiverd, Ak-Depe Altyn-Depe, Gara-Depe,, and Namazga-Depe. 

Abiverd is one of the cities of the North Khorasan repeatedly mentioned in the written sources, especially from the times of Arabian conquest. Baverd (Abiverd) is "the place of numerous crops and fields" in the Persian geographic work "Hudud al-Alem".

Ak-Depe A big hill, surrounded by a moat. In the ancient times it was a castle  with two huge towers.

Altyn-Depe is Turkmenistan's only internationally recognised Zoroastrian Ziggurat. The Altyn-Depe (Golden Hill) fortress dates back to the 3^rd - the beginning of the 2^nd millennium BC. During the excavations a monumental cult complex with ziggurat dedicated to the God of Moon was discovered.

Gara-Depe The total area of this site is 15 hectares. Moderate climate had created conditions for the long life of this ancient settlement. It already existed in the 3^rd millennium BC. People of Gara-Depe were engaged in agriculture and cattle breeding. The artisans widely used copper, bone, wood and clay. Historians call Gara-Depe "the town of ancient artists".  

Namazga-Depe A vast territory of 70 hectares. People inhabited this area already in the 3^rd millennium BC. First archaeological excavations took place here in 1930-1940. Archaeologists discovered here ceramic lampshades, clay vessels and pots, dated to the 3^rd-2^nd millennium BC.

Kugitang Nature Reserve

Kugitang Nature Reserve was opened in 1986. It is situated on the western slope of the Kugitang Mountains, spur of Gissars range of the great mountain system Pamiro-Alay. The territory of the Reserve is 27,139 hectares. The name of the Kugitang ( Koytendag in Turkmen) mountains came from the Persian "kuhi" and Turkic "teng" and means "almost impassable mountains". The mountain terrain is cut with numerous valleys and deep canyons.

In this area one can see the highest point in Turkmenistan - the peak Aira Baba (3,137 metres), a grandiose canyon "Um-bar Depe" with 28 m waterfalls, the plateau of Dinosaurs with 438 footprints of Dinosaurs, a unique hydrogen sulphate water spring "Kainar Baba", canyon "Kyrk gyz", karst caves. Not only the Kugitang flora, but also its fauna is unique. top

Kunya Urgench

Kunya Urgench was an ancient city. As early as at the beginning of the 1^st century AD the Chinese sources mentioned the city of Yue-gan which is identified with the city of Urgench. In 712 the Arabs overthrew Khorezm, and Kunya Urgench took its Arabic name Dgurdganiya or Gurganj. In 995, Gurganj became Khorezm Shah's state capital and the second city after Bukhara - capital of Samanids. It was a famous seat of learning during the reign of Khorezm Shahs. The prominent scientists like Avicenna, Al-Beruni and the traveler Ibn Battuta spent some time in Gurganj.

In 1221, after a half-year struggle, the city was captured and destroyed by the Mongols. Nevertheless, due to its beneficial position, Gurganj revived rapidly and retained its importance of a trade and administrative center. In 1388 Tamerlane, considering the city as a rival to Samarkand and completely destroyed it. Some attempts to rebuild the city were made in 1391 and later. Kunya Urgench revived after the irrigation channel of Khan-Yab was built in 1831.     top

Sightseeing and excursion

Kunya Urgench city tour:

Turabek Khanum Mausoleum - was built in the middle of the 14^th century for a Mongol princess Turabek. It is a structure with twelve-sided sanctuaries. The honeycomb decorations and tiles. There are 365 sections, for the days of the year, on the sparkling mosaic; 24 arches, for the hours of the day; 12 bigger arches for the months of the year; and four windows for the weeks of the month.

Kutlug Timur Minaret -was built in the 1320s, while the mosque it attended had utterly gone. The highest minaret (67m) in Central Asia is decorated with bands of brick, now leaning noticeably.

Arslan II Mausoleum - is the oldest building in Kunya Urgench with 12-faced conical dome and the floral terracotta moulding on the facade.

Najmeddin Kubra Mausoleum - is the holiest place in Kunya Urgench. Najmeddin Kubra was a famous 12^th - 13^th century Sufi spiritual leader and poet who founded the Sufi Kubra order. The Mongols beheaded him. That 's why there are two tombs inside - one is for his body and one for his head.

Sultan Ali Mausoleum - was erected in 1580 for Sultan Ali who ruled in Khorezm in the 16^th century.     top

There is a Museum of History in Mary with a display of archaeological finds from sites excavated in the Merv oasis, including those from Bronze Age. There is an informative and attractive display of the world-famous Turkmen carpets, of national dress and domestic equipment. Magnificent Turkmen jewellery of silver, sometimes chased with gold and inlaid with carnelian, is on display, as well as a fine range of the superb embroidered silk garments worn by the various Turkmen tribes. One can see displays of the local flora and fauna, silk weaving, the nomads "yourt and the style of life brought to the oasis by Russians  in the latter half of the 19^th century.     top

Merv Oasis

Merv Oasis is one of the most ancient regions of Central Asia where the highly developed system of the artificial irrigation and the thick net of settlements existed at the Bronze Age. At different historical periods the Merv oasis was named Mouru in the sacred book of the Zoroastrians Avesta, Margush  in the cuneiform texts of the Achaemenids, Margiana  in Greek-Roman works, Merv  in sources of Sassanian and Arabian periods, Maru  in later Turkmen legends. In the second half of the 4^th century BC, the Achaemenids captured Margush. In ancient times the Murghab s delta was a populous oasis and a part of either Bactria or Parthia.  From the 4^th to the 3^rd centuries BC, the son of the founder of the Seleucid country Antioch built a new capital of the region. It was given the name of the Seleucia or Antiochia of Margiana (Gyaur-kala in Merv). Clay walls 250 kilometres long to shield it from raids surrounded the whole oasis by nomads and the desert sand.

Merv s joining the Parthian Empire in the time of Mitridate II approximately in the year of 115 BC promoted the towns quick development as a large craft centre and crossroad of transit trade at the Great Silk Road between China and Rome. Under feudal development, public and political life in Central Asian towns was gradually removed out of citadels to developed new territories protected by fortress walls. In the early feudal period Gyaur-kala was Merv s shakhristan. At that time it was the largest city in the Middle East. In the second part of the 7^th century Southern Turkmenistan (Northern Khorasan) was invaded by the Arabs who began to introduce a new religion, Islam.

The Queen of Cities ' as it was known in the Islamic world, Merv was considered as the second city after Baghdad between the 8^th and 13^th centuries. It was an important point on the Great Silk Road. The 11^th century was marked by the formation of a powerful Turkmen state led by the Seljuk dynasty, which made great contribution to the history of the Middle East.

Merv gained the epithet Shakjahan ' (King of Universe) in the 10^th century and began to develop intensively under the Seljuks. In the period of Sultan Sanjar, it was the capital of the great country, the largest city in the Middle Asia and in the whole Muslim East. Its area together with suburbs was 1,800 hectares with a population of 150,000 people.

In 1221 it was completely destroyed by the hordes of Genghis Khan (including the library said to have 150,000 books). After the Mongol invasion Merv was restored only 200 years later by Shakhrukh, the son of Tamerlane. During the whole 16^th century rulers of neighbouring countries constantly exposed Merv to raids and annexations. In 1510 it became a part of the state of the Safavids and later was conquered by the Shaybanids.

In 1727 Nadir, the future khan of Iran, evicted all the people of Merv to Mashhad. Ten years later he himself began to restore the deserted city to prepare an arsenal for a war campaign against China. After Nadirshah s death, strife began again. The town was being devastated by Afghan and Bukhara troops. They destroyed the irrigation system and ravaged the Murghab oasis. In 1882 Turkmens drove the Bukhara emirs out and soon built a fortress on the new banks of the Murghab, which had changed its bed. So the present town of Mary was built, unconnected with the sites of ancient Merv. Merv is a group of sites of the ancient town of different periods: Bairamalikhan-kala, Abdullakhan-kala, Sultan-kala, Erk-kala (the fortress-citadel), and Gyaur-kala.     top

Sightseeing and excursion

Excursion to Merv - full day

Bairamalikhan-kala.  The site of the ancient town of Bairamalikhan-kala, which territory is almost completely occupied with modern city buildings corresponds to the 18^th-century Merv. The fortress walls and the northwestern corner tower preserved only in the northern part of the site.

Abdullakhan-kala was founded in 1409 by the Timurid ruler Shakhrukh. Originally the city wall had four gates: all that survives of these gates today are breaks in the eroded walls.

Two fort-like structures (keshks) are the high corrugated walls of massive buildings known as the Large Kyz-Kala and the Little Kyz-Kala. Kyz-Kala, an unusual windowless castle outside the city wall, was nicknamed 'the house of maidens "tears ' when Sultan Sanjar started using it for intimate gatherings in which all the guests were men and all the women were slaves.
Between the Large Kyz-Kala and the walls of the Sultan-kala can be seen a small reconstructed mausoleum, known as Kyz Bibi.

Sultan-kala The most outstanding among preserved monuments is Sultan Sanjar Mausoleum. Completed in 1140 AD it is an impressive building of exquisite brickwork. It was included in the ensemble of large palace buildings rising up in the centre of the medieval capital, which is the site of Sultan-kala now.

Shahriar Ark or Citadel The walls of this irregularly shaped citadel in the northwestern corner of the city were built considerably later than the main city walls, probably by Sultan Sanjar. Two structures survive to a greater or lesser extent above ground, the palace and one of the corrugated buildings or keshks.

Askhabs Mausoleum The complex consists of a pair of mausoleums housing the cenotaphs of two Askhabs or companions of the Prophet. The tombs belong to al-Khakim ibn 'Amr al-Ja 'fari and Buraida ibn al-Huseib al-Islami. In the 15^th century the Timurids built a religious complex around their graves. Now it is a place of pilgrimage.

Mausoleum of Muhammad ibn Zayd was built by the order of governor of Merv in the early 12^th century. It is one of the best examples of an Islamic shrine in the Merv oasis. The building was restored in the mid-20^th century.

The Talkhatan Baba Area consists of the mausoleums of Talkhatan Baba, Imam Qasim, Imam Shafi and Imam Bakr. The west façade of the prayer hall at Talkhatan Baba, although heavily restored, is one of the best examples of Seljuk decorative brickwork.

Mosque of Yusuf Hamadani This complex was built around the grave of the dervish Abu Yaqub Yusuf ibn Ayub, who came from the city of Hamadan in western Iran in the first half of the 12^th century. The present mausoleum is a modern rebuilding of a 19^th-century reconstruction and houses a black marble cenotaph decorated with inscriptions and floral designs.

Erk-kala A giant circular clay rampart that is all that remains of what was a 6^th century BC fortress. At that time extensive fortress walls of raw brick surrounded the city. The present height of the walls is of 25 metres.

Gyaur-kala The site of the ancient town of Gyaur-kala corresponds to Antiochia of Margiana. Both Erk-kala and Gyaur-kala continued in use throughout the Parthian and Sassanian periods and into the early Islamic period. The name 'Gyaur-kala ' came later and it means 'Castle of the Infidels '. Together with the state religion Zoroastrianism, the Buddhism and Christianity coexisted. The large house of the Christian community and the Buddhist monastery (sangarama) with mortar were excavated on the site of the ancient town of Gyuar-kala.

The Friday Mosque or Beni Makhan Mosque was erected in the second half of the 7^th century, soon after Merv had been conquered by the Arabs. The mosque was restored in Sejuk period in the 11^th - 12^th centuries, when the interior was lavishly decorated with carved brick and stucco. Remains of a minaret have been found.     top

Repetek Biosphere Reserve

One of the beautiful places in the Karakum desert is the Repetek Reserve. It is located in the eastern Karakum. Here there is a big variety of sandy relief and natural monuments. The word Repetek is translated from the Arabic language as "the confined place with insipid water". The Repetek Reserve was founded in 1927 on the basis of the scientific station, existing here since 1912. The main activity of the Repetek Reserve is preservation and study of flora and fauna of the arid zone. Its total area is 34,600 hectares.

The Repetek Reserve has a climate typical for the continental subtropical deserts. Flora in the Reserve accounts about 120 different kinds of aboriginal flower plants, 8 kinds of soil mushrooms, 4 kinds of lichens, 18 kinds of soil alga and some kinds of endemic plants. The animal world of the Reserve is also rich. Here live 26 species of mammals, 198 species of birds, 22 species of reptiles.
In the Reserve there is a Nature Museum, displaying 13 kinds of stuffed animals, 62 species of stuffed birds and 21 species of stuffed reptiles.     top

Serakhs

Serakhs is the large point on the Great Silk Road between Nishapur and Merv, the centre of small oasis situated in the upper reaches of Tedjen River. In the middle of the 1^st millennium BC the first settlement surrounded by the clay wall appeared on the site of the ancient of the Old Serakhs.

The Serakhs significance becomes stronger after the Arabs conquered Central Asia. At that time the direction of one of the basic routes of the Great Silk Road changed and went from the central regions of Iran to Nishapur, and then through Serakhs to Merv and further to the east. The inclusion of the city to the international trade promoted its economics raising. The Serakhs architects achieved the great successes and their glory was widely spread in Central Asia and Iran.

The Abul-Fazul Mausoleum named also as the Serakhs-Baba Mausoleum was erected in the 11^th century above the grave of the Muslim mystic Abul-Fazul. In spite of its small dimensions, the mausoleum looks monumental.    top

Yekedeshik Cave Town

Yekedeshik is a State historical and architectural reserve, located in the district of Tagta-Bazar. The word "yekedeshik" - from Turkmen language means "one orifice" because of the cave's only one entrance. In the spring period one can see here open land covered with lots of tulips and field mushrooms.

There are many versions of how this cave appeared. According to one of them it was dug by the legions of Alexander's the Great army. As a consequence people used the cave as a dwelling. Inside there are blocs of rooms similar to modern ones where one can see bedrooms, kitchens and others. The cave consists of two floors. On the lower floor people collected water for their needs. There are 44 rooms. Axe-like tools in the rock of sandstone had carved the cave. A straight, 37 metres long corridor comes up against niche, which resembles an altar. On the right and the left there are rectangular rooms and one of them, almost quadrate in plan has a spherical ceiling and a dome. There is a suggestion that Yekedeshik was a monastery, because more or less organised complexes of artificial caves serve in Central Asia as monasteries - usually Buddhist, sometimes Christian. Nowadays the cave is under archaeological excavations.

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