This view is history by now - the monument it was taken from was dismantled in March 2010 because on top of it was a 12 m gold plated statue of the old president, rotating around its axis once a day so his face would always see the sun. The new president didn't like that monument of the old president anymore.
Which is a pitty, because the view from the monument was gigantic. And gigantic is the word you would want to use when describing architecture in Turkmenistan's capital. Pictured here: the main parade square in the centre.
On parade days the president stands under the golden cupola on the right, while tanks and rockets pass by and soldiers walk by in lockstep. Lockstep, by the way ... if wars were won by those who can march best in lockstep, no doubt, Turkmenistan would rule the world! Forget China or North Korea, I've seen thousands and thousands of soldiers parading up and down the square in perfect harmony, their synchronized feet in perfect conformity, as if not thousand individuals but just one perfectly functioning body were walking by.
This is by far not Ashgabat's biggest square, but the only of which it is possible to take pictures that give some sense of dimensions. If you look really close at the trees in the left foreground ... do you notice the pedestriant crossing the square? I had to wait for a while for someone to show up, but without any people in the picture, it would have been impossible to understand the dimensions of that place.
As the headline says: Size Does Matter!
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