Inside $14,000,000,000 ‘city of the d.ad’ home to

Turkmenistan, a Central Asian country rich in natural gas, has gained attention for its capital, Ashgabat, which has become a destination for “dark tourists.” Despite billions spent turning the city into a gleaming white marble metropolis under the leadership of former president Saparmurat Niyazov, Ashgabat has a small population of just over one million. Nicknamed the “city of the dead,” it was rebuilt after a devastating 1948 earthquake and now features numerous Guinness World Records, including the highest concentration of white marble buildings and the most fountain pools in a public space.

Documentarian David Farrier visited Ashgabat for his Netflix series Dark Tourist, describing it as heavily controlled and eerily empty. While the city includes extravagant features like a rotating gold statue of Niyazov, the world’s largest indoor Ferris wheel, and a massive bird-shaped airport built for 14 million passengers but used by only about 100,000 annually, it lacks genuine public activity. Under current President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov, strict rules continue, including bans on black cars and restrictions on movement and photography. Though it glows at night, Ashgabat is widely seen as a grand but lifeless facade.

The otherworldly city of Ashgabat, capital of the lesser-known authoritarian state Turkmenistan
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