Size: 33.5×25.5cm./13.1x10inch.
Weight: 2543gr./89.7oz.
Year: 2004
S
 
Propaganda book from Turkmenistan, 2004, filled with pictures, about Ashgabat. The book comes in three languages: Turkmen, Russian and English. Ashgabat is the capital and the largest city of Turkmenistan. The city has a population of 1,030,063 (2022 census).
In 1919, the city was renamed Poltoratsk. When the Turkmen SSR was established in 1924, Poltoratsk became its capital. The original name but in the form of “Ashkhabad” rather than “Askhabad” was restored in 1927.
After WWII the city experienced rapid growth and industrialisation, although severely disrupted by a major earthquake on October 6, 1948. An estimated 7.3 on the Surface magnitude scale, the earthquake killed 110.000–176.000 (⅔ of the population of the city). Much of the urban renewal since 1991 has involved demolition of traditional single-family residential housing, commonly with allegedly forced eviction of residents, and often without compensation to the homeowners. In particular, private homes rebuilt in neighborhoods flattened by the 1948 earthquake, many of which were never formally registered with the government, were subject to confiscation and demolition without compensation. In July 2003, street names in Ashgabat were replaced by serial numbers except for nine major highways, some named after Saparmurat Niyazov, his father, and his mother. The Presidential Palace Square was designated in 2000 to symbolize the beginning of the 21st century.
Following Niyazov’s death in 2006, Soviet-era street names were restored, though in the years since, many of them have been replaced with names honoring Turkmen scholars, poets, military heroes, and figures from art and culture, as well as celebrating the nation’s independence. In 2013, the city was included in the Guinness Book of Records as possessing the world’s highest concentration of white marble buildings.