Tajikistan (2017): Dushanbe

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I spent a couple of days in Dushanbe, Tajikistan′s capital, on my way to and from southern Gorno-Badakhshan. It is an attractive city with large streets lined with tall trees.

Some of the neo-classical buildings built in Soviet time along Rudaki Avenue:

- Ayni Opera and Ballet Theater.

- Former Firdousi Library with busts of prominent figures in science and the arts, now the Accounts Chamber of the Republic of Tajikistan.

- Academy of Sciences.

Some of the many statues dotting Dushanbe:

- Statue of Abū Ibrāhīm Ismā′īl ibn Aḥmad (892-907), known in Tajikistan as Ismoil, the most famous king of the Persian Samanid Empire (819 to 999). Ismoil was chosen as a national hero of the Republic of Tajikistan. The statue was erected in 1999.

- Statue of Rudaki, a poet born in the 9th century in Rudak, a village near Penjikent (northern Tajikistan). Rudaki is regarded as the founder of classical Persian literature. A legend (unlikely to be true) tells that he was blind from birth.

- Left: Statue of Sadriddin Ayni (1878-1954), one of Tajikistan′s most important writers, in Ayni Square. Center and right: Unusual sculptures in the same square.

People gathering to listen to singers and music on a Saturday evening in front of the Ayni Opera and Ballet Theater.

Along Lohuti street, near the Shahmansur market.

In the vibrant and colorful Shahmansur market.

Huge mosque under construction, with a projected capacity of up to 150,000 worshippers. Construction work, mostly paid by Qatar, started in 2009 and was supposed to be completed within 5 years... If ever completed, this mosque will be one of the largest in the world.

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