The history of mankind on the territory of Turkmenistan from its inception to our times is captured in dioramas, photographs, documents and archaeological finds. To learn its culture, way of life, rituals, crafts, architecture and art, it is enough to visit the national museums, which we will tell you about in this material.

State Museum of the State Cultural Center of Turkmenistan (the Main National Museum)

The Museum of History and Ethnography and the Museum of the President of Turkmenistan are also located here.

The State Museum of the State Cultural Center of Turkmenistan is the first and largest museum of independent Turkmenistan with an area of about 15 thousand square meters. Its official opening took place on November 12, 1998.

The complex is built of Finnish granite, precious wood and bronze in the traditions of modern national architecture. As a decoration, openwork metal grilles, decorative cornices and tinted stained glass windows were used. Two buildings housing the Museum of History and Ethnography and the Museum of the President of Turkmenistan were completed in 2009. All three buildings are united by an open gallery with a colonnade.

Today, the museum's exposition is divided into 7 thematic galleries and has a total of more than 166 thousand unique exhibits. The Museum of History and Ethnography houses ancient artifacts of Nisa, Merv and Gonur, a collection of ancient Turkmen carpets, rare samples of national clothing, jewelry, and ancient weapons. Here you can see statuettes of Athena, Eros, griffin made of silver with gilding, products from the era of the Parthian kingdom, gold jewelry and medallions-seals from Margiana, Buddhist artifacts, dinosaur paw prints, Kunyaurgench meteorite weighing 820 kg.

And in the 10 thematic halls of the Museum of the President of Turkmenistan, personal belongings of the first person, gifts of heads of state, valuable archival documents and photographic materials representing the country's recent history, as well as attributes of the presidential inauguration are presented.

Photo and video shooting is prohibited in the museum, but you can order a photography service for an additional fee. An audio guide service is also available to visitors. By the way, you can watch the virtual tour on [the official website of the museum] (https://www.museum.gov.tm/ru ).

INFORMATION FOR VISITORS:

Entrance ticket:

– for citizens of Turkmenistan: adults 3 m., children under 7 years free of charge, children under 15 years – 0.2 m., students – 1 m., pensioners free of charge;
– for foreigners, the ticket price is $10.

Excursion:

– for citizens of Turkmenistan: adults 2 m., children under 7 years free of charge, children under 15 years – 0.2 m., students – 1 m., pensioners free of charge;
– audio guide – 2 m.
– for foreigners – $10.

Working hours: from 10.00. to 17.00 (lunch: 13:00-14:00), the day off is Tuesday.

Public transport: buses № 9, 19, 20, 34, 39, 42, 56.

Address: Ashgabat, Archabil Ave., 30 (opposite the installed main flag of Turkmenistan).

Contact phone number: +993 48 25 92.

Branches of the State Museum of the State Cultural Center of Turkmenistan:

– Garashsyzlyk Museum: 95 Turkmenbashi Avenue
– Galkynysh Museum: 97 Archabil Avenue
– Bitaraplyk Museum: 55 Bitarap Turkmenistan Avenue

Working hours: 9:00-17:00

Days off: Saturday and Sunday, Tuesday – the museum is closed to visitors.

National Museum of Turkmen Carpet

The Museum of the Turkmen carpet is the only one of its kind in the whole world. It was established on March 20, 1993 in order to revive, preserve and creatively develop the traditions of Turkmen carpet weaving. The museum area is just over 5 thousand square meters and is located near the administrative building of the State Association "Turkmenhaly". International scientific forums and conferences are held within its walls.

The museum is one of the cultural centers of Turkmenistan. There are about 2000 carpet exhibits, including rare ones: from the smallest – a housekeeper measuring 0.01 sq. m. – to the world's largest handmade carpet with an area of 301 m2, which is listed in the Guinness Book of Records. It is interesting that in the museum you will not find two carpets with the same pattern.

The museum also carries out restorations of ancient carpets: double-sided, embossed, silk carpets woven three or four centuries ago, acquire a new look here. Including carpets, each square meter of which consists of 1,350,000 knots. In total, about 8 thousand samples of old carpets are stored there.

INFORMATION FOR VISITORS:

Address: Ashgabat, 158 Atamurat Niyazov Avenue

Working hours: Mon.-Fri. from 9.00 to 18.00, Sat., Sun. – day off.

Phone: (+993 12) 39-88-86.

National Museum of Fine Arts

The Saparmurat Turkmenbashi the Great Museum of Fine Arts of Turkmenistan is an art museum, one of the largest in Central Asia.

The museum was founded in 1927 under the leadership of the Russian sculptor A. A. Karelin. And it got its current name in 2005, when it was opened after reconstruction. The total area of the three-storey building totals 17 thousand sq. m. In the basement there are restoration workshops, storage, laboratory, library, carpentry shop, technical services, etc.

The museum has eleven exhibition halls, where works of modern Turkmen art are presented: paintings, graphics, sculpture, carpets, tapestries, ceramics, jewelry.

It also houses collections of Western European art of the XIV — beginning . XX centuries, Russian painting of XVIII—XX centuries, samples of applied art of China, Japan, India and Iran. In the hall of ancient art, the rarest exhibits are presented, which were received by the museum following the results of archaeological excavations on the territory of Turkmenistan. In total, the museum's collection includes hundreds of paintings, carpets, sculptures and precious metal products.

INFORMATION FOR VISITORS:

Address: Ashgabat, 88 Alisher Navoi Street

Phone: (+993 12) 01-20-12, (+993 12) 92-71-69.

There are other museums in and around Ashgabat that are worth visiting. The National Museum of Wildlife of Turkmenistan is located near Ashgabat. Representatives of 250 species of animals, birds, insects, reptiles and fish live on the territory of about 40 hectares.

The National Museum "Ak Bugday" (White Wheat Museum) – the only wheat museum in the world – is located in Annau. Not far from the place where the museum now stands, in 1904, archaeologists found wheat grains dating back to the III century BC. Among the exhibits you can also see millstones of the same period, tools of the III-II millennia BC and ancient ceramic dishes.

The museum "Sanctity of the Motherland" is located on the territory of the memorial complex "National Memory". Exhibits from the Great Patriotic War and the devastating Ashgabat earthquake of the mid-twentieth century are collected here.

ORIENT
Photo: tripadvisor.ru