The largest Lenin statue in Central Asia was moved to an empty field rather than being destroyed.

A bustling bazaar with an elaborate facade in Central Asia’s underrated capital.

The world's second-tallest flagpole stands proud despite dropping rank.

This dark, damp, perilous tunnel is the only passage from north to south Tajikistan.

Controversially restored in the 1970s, this giant 15th-century mosque is shrouded in legend.

Once a luxurious flagship of the Soviet Union, this Brutalist structure remains a landmark of Tashkent’s communist past.

Prowl through this sprawling bazaar under a massive Soviet-era dome for delicious eats.

The heartbeat of modern Uzbekistan’s thriving market culture.

An underground world of gorgeous, palatial metro stations designed as a nuclear shelter complex.

An 18-meter-long sarcophagus of a constantly growing dead prophet.

Light still pours into the ruins of this ancient Islamic observatory.

This "tower of death" has acted as an observatory, a religious hub, and an executioner's lair.

The Avenue of Mausolea is a series of grand palatial tombs.

This remnant of an ancient Persian city is considered to be the world's largest single-span brick vault arch.

The home of Iraq's former prime minister now houses historical manuscripts.

At the heart of an otherwise bustling city lies some oddly abandoned and ignored historical ruins.

One of the largest cemeteries in the world.

A surreal monument depicting a five-armed giant supporting a toppling cylinder seal.

A 2200 year old vessel may have been able to keep a charge.

A bloody history is captured in this former prison turned museum.

Giant reed houses made in the marshes of Southern Iraq.

A giant bisected onion dome remembers the Iraqis who died in the Iran-Iraq War.

An ancient sanctuary that has long been a holy site for the Chaldean Christian Church.

The surviving pieces of an ancient aqueduct that may have fed into the lost Hanging Gardens of Babylon.