NEWS

Dargan Fortress

Excursions to historical monuments, which the Lebap velayat is especially rich in, have become traditional for students of secondary educational institutions of our region. So recently, we with school students visited the vicinity of the Dargan settlement-fortress, the very name of which, according to the definition of Arab linguists, means: “barrier”, “barrage”, “dam”. Five kilometres from the Dargan fortress, over time, a settlement appeared, and then the modern town of Darganata. It is one of the towns of the Lebap velayat in the north-eastern region of Turkmenistan, bordering with Uzbekistan. Residents of Darganata are proud of the nature conservation objects located there. On the territory of Dargan, there is a mausoleum of the 14th century, called by the locals the tomb of Abu Muslim. According to the preserved inscription on the door of the mausoleum, it was built in 1371-1372 (in 773 according to Muslim chronology).

19 May 2023

History

To Protect for Descendants

Every year on April 18, the world community has been celebrating the International Day for Monuments and Sites for 40 years. The name of the date speaks for itself. Its main goal is to promote the awareness of local communities and individuals throughout the world of the importance of protecting and conserving world cultural and natural heritage. Turkmenistan can rightly be proud of its achievements in this area. The ancient monuments of the Turkmen land – Jeytun, Anau, Kara-depe, Namazga-depe, Altyn-depe, Gonur-depe proto-city, Bezegli-dere, the architectural complexes of Abiverd and Serahs, the monuments located on the banks of the Amudarya River and in the foothill valley of the Kopetdag Mountains and the medieval monuments in Merv, Kunya-Urgench and Dekhistan are the invaluable historical and cultural heritage of our country and the Turkmen people.

21 April 2023

History

HISTORY OF NATIONAL OREO COOKIE DAY

America celebrates its very special day – National Oreo Cookie Day on March 6 every year. They love a good cookie. And good cookies stem from the classics.  In fact, one of our absolute favorites is a timeless classic: the Oreo. With crisp chocolate cookies and creamy filling, these little cookies have captured our hearts and our stomachs. The Oreo was first introduced in 1912 and it has been the best-selling cookie in America ever since. We love to dunk them, twist them, and straight up take a bite. Here’’s to the delicious Oreo! The late Sam J. Porcello, a former Nabisco food scientist, is known for his work in terms of the modern Oreo cookie, which has been a creamy favorite snack for decades. This cookie creation is without a doubt one of his most notable achievements in his 34 years at Nabisco. And frankly, we believe that life has been sweeter ever since, since we at National Today just cannot get enough! The Oreo cookie is nearly 108 years old, and is enjoyed by cookie lovers of all ages across the globe.

31 March 2023

History

The secret of ancient Nisa

On the political map of the ancient world, the historical province called Parthia was located in South Turkmenistan. The Great Parthian kingdom was later formed on its basis. This state later consolidated a large geographical area and competed with Ancient Rome. Parthia is known to have had different capital cities at different times. But Nisaya has always been Parthia's «sallanchag» - the city where the state was founded, its spiritual and historical capital. It was one of the most powerful states that shook the ancient world. It was founded in Parthia, one of the satrapies (provinces) of the Seleucid State in 247 BC by Arsak I, the head of the Parn tribe and his brother Tridatus. Parthia lived for almost 500 years and it fell in 224 AD and disappeared from the scene of history. Over the centuries, information about him has faded. According to this, there are different views in science about the foundation of Parthia, the exact dates of its origin and trial, and the origin of the Arsaki dynasty.

25 March 2023

History

Sultan of saints

When we think about the city of Koneurgench, the capital of the state whose reputation once spread to seven continents, we realize that in the past, Koneurgench was a great cultural centre of Oghuz Turkmens, a flourishing place of science, culture, and art. This land is a holy land that gave birth to great thinkers, world-famous scientists, masters, and poets. The great buildings of the past! The mysterious pages of history tell many strange and mysterious stories about those buildings. Those stories about the great buildings of the ancient Koneurgench, the information that looks like fairy tales compared to today's view, correspond to the time when the fiery heels of fierce enemies did not yet tread on this land. In fact, they are cited not only in the memoirs of one or two historians, but in many books.

27 January 2023

History

Turkmen school of painting in the 15th century

As it has been shown in the book «Turkmenistan — the Heart of the Great Silk Road» (Ashgabat, 2017) by our Hero Arkadag, Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov the roots of the Turkmen culture go back to the ancient times. The book gives the historical materials and books written about the art and cultural traditions of the Turkmen people. Among them «The Book» of Marco Polo (1254-1324) tells about the ornaments designed by the Turkmen women, their decorations, famous Turkmen carpets, their designs which are striking evidence of the existence of the Turkmen art of painting since the ancient times. The pictures of animals, birds, plants depicted on the Turkmen carpets, charms and decorations show aspirations of their creators, quest for perfection since the ancient times. The Islamic religion founded by Prophet Muhammad in the 7th century militated against the pre-Islamic tradition of making figures and depicting the living beings. Once I asked my grandfather the reason for this, he said: «There is a popular belief that if you draw a picture, then those beings depicted in the picture will ask you on doomsday, in that eternal world, to make them alive and give them souls, but you cannot make them alive, because everything is in the hands of the Almighty Allah». It is evident that such beliefs are closely connected with Muslim traditions.

4 December 2022

History

Bright Symbols of the Turkic World

The decision of the International Organisation of Turkic Culture (TURKSOY) to declare 2024 the Year of the Great Poet and Thinker of the Turkic World – Magtymguly Pyragy and the ancient Turkmen town of Anau the cultural capital of the Turkic world 2024 raises pride in our country and leaves none of citizens of Turkmenistan indifferent. Today, centuries later, the poetic lines of the great son of the Turkmen people, calling for love of the Motherland, unity and brotherhood, remain relevant and echo in every heart. Magtymguly Pyragy!..There is, perhaps, no more famous and more honourable name among the Turkmen people. It is difficult to find another poet in the history of Turkmen literature, whose work has not rolled off the lips for three centuries, whose poetry served as the same exact and accurate expression of the aspirations of every Turkmen.

25 November 2022

History

Kyarizes

Demonstrating amazing ingenuity and resourcefulness, the Turkmen people learned to extract life-giving moisture from the bowels of the earth in ancient times. This is illustrated by kyarizes – ancient hydraulic structures, which represent a system of wells connected by underground galleries. Though some of the surviving kyarizes are several centuries old, they continue to serve people by collecting and bringing groundwater to the earth’s surface. These man-made sources of water have served man for thousands of years. Today, in the period of the Revival of the New Era of the Powerful State, specialists of the Bäherdenagyzsuw Directorate conduct maintenance, repair and improvement work at the kyarizes Garaja, Chopan, Hyuntyush, Dov, Garasuv, Han, Janabat, Kone Borme, Bami ata and Shih ata located at the foothills in the Baherden etrap, Ahal velayat. No one will probably ever know when the first kyariz was dug in the ancient Turkmen land, and the point is not in this, but in what an important role these facilities played in the life of our ancestors for thousands of years.

25 November 2022

History

From the History of the Potter’s Wheel

The notion of the potter’s wheel, craftsmen and their products is moving further away from us. There are no pottery workshops in modern cities, few of them can be found in rural areas, and ceramics has received new uses, turning into one of the decorative arts. A real ceramic article is rare; in everyday life it often serves as an interior decoration, an interior design element of office or administrative buildings. Meanwhile, the potter’s wheel that appeared 6,000 years ago has become a factor in progressive changes in the social life of the cultural and historical space, a leap forward for this craft and for humanity. Scientists believe that all the best, progressive and democratic in culture is reflected in ceramics. The reason is in its ethnicity and the traditionalism of this art, which is rooted in history. However, now we will talk about the tool used to make it – the potter’s wheel, one of the greatest inventions of humankind, the longest and most actively functioning technical phenomena. The displacement of hand-made moulding by this pottery tool happened historically quickly, which contributed to the division of labour and the transformation of the craft into a branch of production. In Central Asia, they began to use the potter’s wheel in the late III millennium BC, including the settlements of Southern Turkmenistan – Jeytun, Jebel and Chopan

7 October 2022

History

Gold of Margush

Archaeological finds made of precious metals always stir up interest and attract special attention of applied art connoisseurs and researchers, because these artefacts are unique specimens of artistic creativity of jewellers who lived thousands of years ago. Such, for example, are the worldwide and textbook-famous gold jewellery made by Egyptian, Greek or Scythian masters. In the historical part of the exhibition devoted to the kingdom of Margush, the State Museum of the State Cultural Centre of Turkmenistan presents jewellery pieces that vividly illustrate the highest metalworking skills of ancient goldsmiths. The discovery of the legendary Bronze Age kingdom in the delta of the Murghab River in the second half of the 20th century brought many new, amazing things extracted from under the sands, testifying to the flourishing of ceramic and metallurgical production, stone cutting and jeweller’s art in its settlements. Therefore, it became a global sensation and an outstanding achievement of Turkmen science, expanding knowledge about the historical past of Turkmenistan, whose territory is rightfully considered the fifth centre of world civilisation together with Egypt, China, India and Mesopotamia and significantly enriched the museum collection of our country. Today, the golden items from Margush – the “city of kings and gods” that laid in oblivion for 4,000 years, are t

1 July 2022

History