Dushanbe

Dushanbe was a village with a Monday market, which is what its name means, until it was made the capital in the 1920s and laid out on a grid of wide tree-lined avenues that still shapes it. Rudaki Avenue runs the length of the centre past parks, ministries and the opera house. The city has been rebuilt heavily since the 2000s with very large public buildings, a national flagpole among the tallest anywhere, and a new mosque and library on a monumental scale.

Background

The city spreads across the Hisar Valley at 750-930 m, closed in by the Hisar Range to the north and east and by the Babatag, Aktau, Rangontau and Karatau mountains to the south. In ancient times the area was settled by Mousterian tool-users and several neolithic cultures, and later by the Achaemenids, Greco-Bactria, the Kushans and the Hephthalites. Achaemenid dishes and ceramics have been found at Qiblai, 6 kilometres east. In the Middle Ages further settlements appeared nearby, among them Hulbuk with its palace. The city has four districts, named Ismail Samani, Avicenna, Ferdowsi and Shah Mansur, and a population of 1,228,400. Trolleybuses have run since 1955, and most of its electricity comes from the Nurek Dam.

Source: Wikipedia, "Dushanbe"

The main sights

• Rudaki Avenue - the tree-lined spine of the city past parks and public buildings.
• The Rudaki monument - the memorial to the Persian poet in the central park.
• The Ismaili Centre - the modern building on the western side of the centre.
• Victory Park - the hillside park above the city, reached by cable car.

When to go

April to June and September to October are the most comfortable. Summer is very hot in the valley. Navruz in late March fills the city.

Things to know

Much of the old city has been demolished for the rebuilding and little pre-Soviet fabric survives. Photography of government buildings is restricted and challenged. Summer heat regularly exceeds forty degrees.

Nearby

Varzob Gorge is north, and Hisor Fortress is west.

Key facts