The largest mosque of Central Asia is located 11 kilometers from the capital of Turkmenistan. Turkmenbashi Ruhy mosque immediately catches attention with its grandiosity and sizes. It was built in 2004 by the initiative of Turkmenbashi. Later the mosque was named after him. The name is literally translated as “the mosque of Turkmenbashi spirituality”.
The super-expensive mosque that cost about $100.000.000 is built in white marble with golden domes. The complex occupying 18.000.000m2 has four minarets of 91 meters height to symbolize the year of 1991 when the country gained independence. The main building has nine arches with entries. The white walls are decorated with phrases from Rukhnama and suras from Koran. The praying hall has white columns, huge handmade carpet, and sky-blue dome.
Turkmenbashi Mausoleum is located not far from the mosque. It is small in size yet an important part of the complex. Turkmenbashi is buried in the sarcophagus surrounded by four more sarcophagi of his two brothers and mother, the fourth one is empty; it is a symbolic sarcophagus of Turkmenbashi’s father.
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