Trips

Thurs., 10/11/18 - Dushanbe, Tajikistan

Today we toured Dushanbe. Our bus took us to Ismaili Somoni Square with the 120-foot high statue of him. (Lenin was the statue there before independence.) Somoni is considered the forefather of the Tajik nation and founder of the Samanid Dynasty in the 10th c.

We walked through a beautiful park, with many fountains, from the Somoni statue toward the Palace of Nations - the presidential residence (white house). The park had a few banana trees and many magnolia trees. We don’t know how they survive the winter. There is another large statue of Rudaki, a Persian poet. We took pictures of the 295-foot tall flag pole (now the second highest) and the huge National Library that opened in 2012. It costs only $1 for anyone from anywhere to have a membership to use the library.

Monument to Ismoil Somoni	Closer up
Crown atop the monument	Design over the street
Someone is always cleaning the public places
Victory Arch	Palace of Nations (Presidential Residence)
Statue and Arch dedicated to the poet Rudaki	Detail of the arch
Clean up crew	Break-time
Gardens and National Library	National Library
	Snow-covered high Pamir Mountains
Stele with the Emblem of Tajikistan	We visited the National Antiquities Museum. The buried skeleton of a 4th c. BCE Sarazm princess with beads and jewels was impressive. Her long bones indicated she was well over 6-feet tall which is remarkable for that time period. There was a large bowl with Greek writing on it from the 3rd c. BCE and items from other Silk Road travelers and conquerors. We saw ankle bones for a game we have seen in many places around the world; a rock with petroglyphs of camels, clay figures of men and animals that were rather primitive; and a huge Reclining Buddha - Buddha in Nirvana - made of clay around the 6th c. CE.
4th c. BCE Sarazm Princess	4th c. BCE Sarazm Princess
Flutes	Greek writing on a large bowl from the 3rd c. BCE
Greek writing on a large bowl from the 3rd c. BCE	Carved face
Ankle bones game pieces	Bowl
Rock with petroglyphs of camels	Excavating the Reclining Buddha
Reclining Buddha or Buddha in Nirvana

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