Dushanbe
This attractive Soviet-style building with a courtyard of fountains is closed to visitors but makes a useful reference point for navigating in the centre…
Dushanbe
This attractive Soviet-style building with a courtyard of fountains is closed to visitors but makes a useful reference point for navigating in the centre…
Tajikistan
Around 10km from Langar, on a promontory fortified for at least 2300 years, these minimal castle ruins are signposted off the main Wakhan road. A path of…
Tajikistan
On cold Friday lunchtimes, dozens of older men with flowing white beards, turbans, upturned boots and swishing purple/green iridescent joma robes make…
Tajikistan
A 22m-tall statue of Lenin was moved here from Moscow in 1974 when Khojand was called Leninabad. In 2011 Vlad was quietly removed from his central plinth…
Tajikistan
At Zong, 5km west of Langar, this fortress was built to guard a branch of the Silk Road from Chinese and Afghan invaders. The fortress ruins, while not…
Tajikistan
Making a striking contrast to the more usual choice of public monuments celebrating Somoni, Rudaki or Lenin, this sculpture in the centre of the…
Dushanbe
Language classes available in Russian and Persian are available at this cultural centre, together with concerts, art exhibitions and a showroom of…
Tajikistan
Unesco-listed Sarazm is a 5500-year-old site 15km west of Penjikent. One of the oldest city-sites in Central Asia, finds here include a fire temple and…
Tajikistan
The ancient site of Kobadiyan (7th to 2nd centuries BC) in southern Tajikistan is famed for the nearby discovery in 1877 of the Oxus Treasure, a stunning…
Dushanbe
This grand modern building, dubbed locally as the White House, is the official seat of the president of Tajikistan. Although closed to the public, its…
Dushanbe
This small lake in the middle of the Varzob Valley is a half-hour drive (30km) north of Dushanbe. The whole river valley is dotted with chaikhanas and…
Tajikistan
Modern-day poet Loik Sherali was born in Mazari Sharif near Penjikent in 1941. He earned the title 'People's Poet of Tajikistan' and when he died in 2000…
Tajikistan
The Sogdian site of Bunjikath, near Shakhristan, was the 8th-century capital of the kingdom of Ushrushana. It is noteworthy for a famous Sogdian mural…
Dushanbe
Tajikistan’s Persian past is invoked in the facade of the Writers’ Union Building. Adorned with sculpted-stone figures of Sadruddin Ayni, Omar Khayam,…
Tajikistan
This 16th-century place of worship was built by an Uzbeki khan. A portion of the understated mosque was destroyed in a flood in 1836; another portion has…
Tajikistan
Facing the eastern knoll of the Khaakha Fortress, this snippet of a museum represents the private collection of the director, Odinmammad Mirzayev, who may…
Tajik State Pedagogical University
Dushanbe
Established in 1931, this is one of Tajikistan's top higher education institutions. For visitors, its pale blue, neoclassical facade makes a useful…
Tajikistan
This small museum at Ancient Penjikent chronicles the excavations at the site and displays some copies of the best frescoes (some of them 15m long)…
Tajikistan
This small, brick-fronted museum has a modest natural history collection and some ancient artefacts from Silk Road days. Most of the exhibits relate to…
Tajikistan
This purpose-built bazaar, just along from the roundabout with the giant apricot, makes a good landmark as shared taxis pull up outside. It also offers an…
Dushanbe
Opened in 2011 and constructed to resemble an open book, this US$40 million archive is reputed to be Central Asia's biggest library. It makes an…
Tajikistan
Half-hidden behind Soviet apartment blocks at Lenin 100-102, the modern Hazrat-i-Shah Mosque is tucked behind a poets' garden full of scented roses…
Tajikistan
In the centre of Vershab, a wide footpath descending past the main shop leads to a mausoleum that looks recently built. Locals claim that it's the shrine…
Tajikistan
Protected by a silver-domed, Plexiglass casing, Ayni's most treasured landmark is an eroded 10th-century mudbrick minaret. The mosque beside the Varz-i…
Tajikistan
Opening up behind a fanciful traditional archway at the corner of the bend in Rudaki, this bazaar is a perfect place to buy fruit (cherries, mulberries,…
Tajikistan
The ruined Afghan citadel of Qala-e Panja, once the largest settlement in the Wakhan, is visible across the Pyanj River from near Zugband, some 10km west…
Tajikistan
In the northwest corner of town is the one-room Mazar-i-Chor Gumbaz whose four tin cupolas conceal some of Tajikistan’s most impressive old painted…
Tajikistan
Standing at the intersection of Lenin and the street that bears his name, the statue of Komil Khojandi commemorates the city's namesake.
Tajikistan
This modernist-style monument of giant marble stelae, below which burns the eternal flame, commemorates the heroes of WWII.
Tajikistan
A ruined 2300-year-old Graeco-Bactrian temple close to the point where Alexander crossed the Oxus in 329 BC.
Dushanbe
This monument commemorates the veterans who participated in the victory over Nazi Germany in June 1945.
Tajikistan
A large and impressive version of Lenin presides over Rudaki near the centre of town.
Tajikistan
Close to Yamchun, on an obvious salt-bleached patch of mountainside directly behind the hamlet of Vrang (Вранг), is a five-level stone monument claimed to…
Dushanbe
Though it was not functioning at the time of writing, this big wheel nevertheless makes a useful landmark – not to be confused with the smaller working…
Tajikistan
A rather stolid horseback version of the nation's favourite statue sits alongside Rudaki, in front of the TCell building.
Tajikistan
A statue of Devastich, the area's last Sogdian leader, dominates the roundabout at the western end of town.