Ashgabat is the capital city of Turkmenistan. It’s been around for a while – but arguably not in it’s current form… The city was founded in 1881 on the basis of an Ahal Teke tribal village, then destroyed by an earthquake in 1948, but it’s the 2000s version that everyone comes to see...
When the first president Niyazov came to power he decided the country needed a proper city, and with white being his favourite colour, and with the immense reserve of the country’s gas revenues behind him, of course he went on to build a city entirely made from white - white Italian marble of course. And what a city he made!
I’m not sure if you can actually call a city without any inhabitants a city really, but modern day Ashgabat is pretty much that. There is the “older” part of the city where the residents go about their daily lives, but it’s this new build that we all find so intriguing… mainly because there is nobody there.
That’s right, save for a few armed guards with large funny hats standing sentry outside various monuments and civic buildings, there is absolutely nobody there. Perhaps only a handful of white (or silver) cars driving by at the stately speed limit of 50kph, and not a peep over.
White or silver cars are the only colour cars allowed to be driven in Ashgabat.... another one of the country's crazy rules. Oh and you can also be forbidden to enter if your car is too dirty! True story.
So what does this city consist of? Numerous government buildings, wide boulevards and empty multi lane roads, stately civic libraries and massive apartment buildings, and row after row of hotels, which from what we understand sit completely empty.
When we arrived to the hotel that our local fixers had booked for us, it appeared that we were the only people there.
No sooner had we dropped our bags in the our hotel, were we escorted on a rigidly planned tour of the city. Our guide had a written list of all the fabulous monuments and parks we were to visit that evening.. and an even longer one for the following morning.
Now, having our own set of wheels and given our guide would be travelling with us in Lando for the next 4 days, it made sense we would do the driving. But that would be a no… although Lando is white, they didn’t like the slightly tinted windows.
After being told we would be charged 10USD for the privilege of being driven around in our guide’s car for the evening tour, and a stonking 30USD for the tour Part 2 in the morning, you can imagine we put up a protest, but the guide was on the phone again to his superior, and it soon became apparent that the tinted windows weren’t the reason we couldn’t drive Lando around town - that was just a smokescreen - they didn’t want us going off-piste.
To say the first president Niyazov aka “Turkmenbashi - Father of the Turkmen” liked statues is a bit of an understatement. There must be hundreds of them around this town, and many dozen are images of himself… sitting, striding, waving, saluting… it would probably make for a hilarious half day tour, but these are the ones that the tour company (government) wants you to see…
This is the first on our list… the Independence Monument, complete with a gold statue of Turkmenbashi, complete with fountains and a curious five headed eagle stomping on two snakes.
When I inquired as to the symbolism here, the five heads represent the five provinces of the country and the snakes represent the enemies, although just who these enemies are our guide couldn’t - or more likely wouldn’t - say.
The column in background is the actual Independence monument which the locals refer to as the “plunger”
At the top of this mammoth behemoth sits a little golden baby, resting in his mother’s arms.. Yes that is Turkmenbashi junior. What's curious that while he had himself cast in gold, he decided that his mother only needed to be made in bronze. They call this one the “precocious child” monument.
If you have read our earlier post "Welcome to Turkmenistan" you will be aware that the guy is also a published author - he wrote his very own guidebook for his people - full of wonderful advice on how they should live their lives. Or perhaps as Wikipedia calls it "a tool of state propaganda". Spoiler alert... in it he writes how he considers himself to be God's prophet on earth... move over Jesus! Anyway, so passionate about this book was he that there is even a statue dedicated to it...
But here's the best bit.... every evening at 8 pm, the statue's cover would open, and was apparently accompanied by an audio passage of Ruhnama played for the citizens.
The best one however was the $12m golden statue Niyazov had made of himself... which rotated during the day so that he always had the sun on his face… but the best bit? It sat atop a 75m arch completely dominating the city's skyline. Sadly it has since been removed, perhaps even President No. 2 even thought that it was was one statue too far…
The other thing they are very passionate about here is neon lighting… when the sun went down you couldn't blink for seeing neon lights.. they were everywhere…
And how about the "Wedding Palace"? In a city of only 1 million, I can't imagine it gets used very often. It sits high on a hill and changes colour every few seconds...
The next day we got to visit the older part of town... perhaps the standout for us was being taken to a street corner so we could admire some apartment buildings.
Not just any mind - beautiful white apartment buildings decorated with very Soviet looking mosaic murals. And would you like to know what these murals represent? Well, industries... so if you work in medicine, you live in the one with the medical mural. And if you work in gas you live in the one with the gas mural. And if work in agriculture, you get to live in the one with the agricultural murals... you get the drift....
As Eric pointed out, you'd really have to like your colleagues!
Yes the forefather of Ashgabat certainly had a vision. He also had a penchant for collecting Guinness World Records.... here are just a few for you to consider...
-World’s highest density of white marble-clad buildings – 543 within a 4.5 sq mile radius
-World’s highest number of fountains in a public space – 27 synchronised within 15ha
-World’s tallest unsupported flagpole (sadly lost and now claimed by Dubai)
-World’s largest building in the shape of a horse
-World’s largest building in the shape of a bird
-World’s largest indoor ferris wheel – 476m and built at a cost $75m
-World’s largest aquatics sports park has 4,976.65 m² (53,568 ft²) of pools
And I think that's absolutely brilliant!
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