A beautiful mausoleum is the crown jewel of a preserved ancient city in Central Asia.

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.

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

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

This harsh mountain path was built as a strange attempt to improve the health of Turkmen citizens.

Few people have ever heard of, let alone visited, one of Turkmenistan’s most impressive natural attractions.

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

A cemetery with goat-horn bedecked gravestones.

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

A massive collection of petroglyphs dating back some 40,000 years.

The village's cobblestone streets are lined with shops displaying exquisite copper craftsmanship.

What might be the largest completely Jewish town in the world outside of Israel now faces dwindling numbers and empty streets.

Foreign invaders almost left this lovely Caucasus palace alone—almost.

The building's fluid, wavelike walls are a true feat of architectural ingenuity.

In the foothills of the lesser Caucasus, a centuries-old fortress still stands.

This mysterious but iconic tapered tower appears in many Azeri fairytales and legends.

A unique museum dedicated to culture and artistry of carpet weaving.

Resonant stone, that has been played since prehistoric times.

Home to nearly a third of the world's mud volcanoes, Azerbaijan is home to a messy, bubbling, and sometimes explosive landscape.

A gigantic collection of teeny, tiny books.

Swirling layers of white and red rock earned these mountains their festive nickname.

Mysterious hillside with a continuously burning natural fire.

A shrine of fire worship built on top of a natural flame.