Top 10 parks of Ashgabat
May 16, 2018 | 09:50 |598
Ashgabat is a city of parks, their creation is conditioned by traditions that originated from ancient times, when the Turkmen formed the art of building Charbagh gardens, as well as the special climatic conditions of the city's location. Today, the Turkmen capital has become a veritable green oasis between the Karakum Desert and the Kopetdag Mountains. The number of parks and squares here at the turn of the new millennium has exceeded a hundred and continues to increase every year. Moreover, each of the green zones has its own "chip". The largest park of the city with a total area of 630 acres was opened on June 29th, 2017 in the south of the capital. It frames a spectacular architectural ensemble from the Yildiz hotel, the Wedding Palace and the multifunctional Ashgabat stadium. A huge territory on the slopes of the hills is planted by thousands of coniferous and deciduous trees, ornamental bushes, equipped with pedestrian paths. This green zone has great prospects, taking into account the changes in the terrain and the dimensions that are significant not only for Ashgabat. It can be safely attributed to the largest city parks of the world. By area, this young park is larger than, for example, the Royal Park in Australia, covering an area of 400 hectares, the English park in Munich at 370 hectares, and the Central Park in New York (341 hectares). By the way, for a long time the largest in Ashgabat was the National Park of Independence, with an area of 140 hectares, girded around the perimeter of the complexes of fountains and decorated with a number of monumental structures. Among them is the Independence Monument, which is 118 meters high. This is the highest of the buildings located in the parks of the capital.Oleg Vinokurov
One of the most original in Ashgabat was another young park complex "Archabil", which opened in early December 2015 and united in a single architectural and landscape ensemble the Constitution Monument and the Cultural and Entertainment Center "Älem". The park with an area of 78 hectares is interesting because from the height of the bird's flight the contours of its plantations and walking paths create silhouettes of a bird of paradise, strange fish and snails, smoothly passing one into another.
The most high-mountainous park in Ashgabat was not even a square with a fountain and man-made waterfalls, in which the East and Gindivar sections of the Health Path originate, but the green zone at the terminal station of the capital’s cable car, erected in 2006. It is not huge, but picturesque, around and above the juniper forests, providing a magnificent view of the city. And most importantly, it is located at an altitude of over one thousand two hundred meters above sea level, and the main urban development lies at an altitude of about two hundred meters.
The most extended park of the city was the green zone along the shores of the Ashgabat hydro park - a man-made river that stretches across Ashgabat for 11 kilometers. The width of the channel is 12-15 meters. The long embankment is decorated with openwork lamps, bridges and statues of lions. More than a decade since the opening of the hydropark, young pines planted along the river have become spectacular coniferous beauties.
Attention and "agglomeration" is also deserved by green spaces between the avenues of Independence and Neutrality, which included three large parks. These important city arteries from the main square of the city to the south are sepatated by the park "10 years of independence", the park "Altyn Asyr" and children's entertainment park with attractions - World of Turkmen fairy tales. The creation of this unified green zone started in 2001, when the first of the three parks opened on the site of a number of demolished industrial enterprises and old residential buildings.
Now it is, perhaps, the most prestigious district of the city. Around the park complex one can no longer find buildings that are not lined with snow-white marble. Its formation continues - in 2015, a new park of culture and recreation - "Arkadag" - was built near the intersection of the Neutrality avenues and the street of Atamurat Niyazov.
Most of the sculptures in Ashgabat are located on the Alley of Inspiration - "Ylham", which opened in 2010. There are over forty of them, dedicated to outstanding thinkers, scientists, cultural figures of the Turkmen land. The alley stretches in the historical center of the capital between Makhtumkuli Avenue and Georogly Street, besides the statues it is decorated with original fountains and bridges.
In Ashgabat, by the way, there are many squares dedicated to the outstanding masters of the word. The visiting card of the city was the sculpture of Makhtumkuli in the park of the name of the great Turkmen poet, located on the avenue of his name, Kemine Square was located along Kemine Street, and Pushkin Square, of course, on Pushkin Street. By the way, the monument to the great Russian poet in this park - the oldest in the city - was laid in 1889 - in honor of the century anniversary of Alexander Sergeevich, and was installed in 1911. Already in the years of independence, a capsule with soil, brought from the grave of the poet, was laid at its base.
Nearby is the oldest park of the city, now it is called "Ashgabat", and since its foundation in 1887 it was called a city garden. Now it's a modern park with attractions, cozy cafes and original fountains, and the past is visibly reminiscent of age-old Gledicia, the layout of the tracks and the grotto in the man-made rock. With recent reconstruction, particular attention was paid to the well-being of the green inhabitants of the park - all trees were preserved, and in addition new ones were planted.
In the neighborhood, in the park near the railway station, nowadays still grows a mulberry tree called "Agemate of Ashgabat". It was planted in 1896.
And the alley of hundreds of trees of the eastern plumage, planted at the end of the XIX century, later found itself within the city Botanical Garden. Seated plants from around the world garden can be called a green zone of the city with the largest species diversity.
