A white-marble capital at the edge of the Karakum
Ashgabat was almost entirely rebuilt after a devastating earthquake in 1948, and again after independence, when it was clad in white marble. Broad empty boulevards link monuments, ministries and fountains, and the effect is unlike anywhere else. The Tolkuchka Bazaar on the edge of the city is the place for carpets, the country's great craft, and the Carpet Museum displays some of the finest. Just outside the city lie the ruins of Nisa, an early capital of the Parthian Empire and a UNESCO World Heritage Site.