This Soviet statue is based on a piece of propaganda that's been elevated to national myth.

A sober museum housed in the original administrative building of one of Stalin's largest gulags.

A Stalinist prison camp for the wives and children of men accused of betraying the Soviet state is now a memorial museum.

This Soviet-era athletic and recreation facility is the highest ice skating rink in the world.

A collection of Lenin busts and other Soviet Era statues sit idly behind the Semipalatinsk Hotel.

A modern tower, symbolizing the legend of a golden egg on top of the tree of life.

Beatlemania is still going strong... at least in Kazakhstan.

In Kazakhstan, a colorful cathedral with many lives once survived the most powerful earthquake in the region.

An entertainment center in a huge transparent tent.

One of the most horrible legacies of the Cold War is a site where the Soviet Union tested nuclear bombs on civilians.

A brilliant turquoise lake in the mountains.

Iconic pyramid from famed British architect Norman Foster designed to represent all of the world's religious faiths.

This cavernous swimming spot doubles as a home to the largest known colony of bats in Central Asia.

A memorial to the thousands of Turkmen soldiers and civilians who died in a bloody 1881 battle.

Sumptous memorial to a controversial independence.

The controversial final resting place of the equally controversial first president of Turkmenistan.

A huge monument to a bizarre book written by Turkmenistan’s longstanding dictator.

If you want to get married in the White Marble City of Ashgabat, you should do it in this surreal disco ball building.

A dictator's gold statue once rotated to face the sun on a 75-meter high marble tower.

A fiery crater has been burning in the Karakum Desert since 1971.

An outstanding piece of retro Sci-Fi architecture built into a sacred mountain.

Lonely minaret stump of a destroyed city.

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

The first version of this stalwart construction appeared around 3,000 years ago.