NEWS

Tamdyr: Traditions of Baking

The purpose of modern museums is to study, preserve and promote the historical heritage of the Turkmen people, who have centuries-old rich history and culture. The ethnography department of the State Museum of the State Cultural Centre of Turkmenistan has a rich collection of national clothes, jewellery and household items. Since farming was the main economic sector of the Turkmen people, many exhibits tell about the labour of grain growers and associated practices. After reaping a rich harvest, dayhans held special celebrations in honour of this event so that subsequent years would be good for the crops. These centuries-old traditions continue to this day.

19 February 2021

Heritage

A small Universe accomodating happiness

This folding house is one of the unique achievements of the Central Asian peoples. Its structure as a whole is the same, but the originality of each of them is manifested in the features of the external and internal design. Often decorated with felt and woven products, embroidery and artistic carvings, the yurt for the Turkmen was not just a dwelling, but something larger. The mobile assembled yurt ideally corresponded to the basic principle of nomadic life: it is a camp house – “All that is mine I carry with me.”

12 February 2021

Heritage

Decorative Items from Shehrihaybar

In a new historical era, priority importance is attached to the study and preservation of the literary and cultural heritage, national traditions, tangible and intangible values for future generations. Setting the tasks of promoting the glorious history and ancient monuments of the Turkmen people, President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov approved the State Programme of archaeological excavations at the monuments in the regions of the country along the Great Silk Road for 2018–2021. The historical monuments of particular interest that appeared due to the Great Road that ran through the territory of our Motherland include the medieval settlement of Shehrihaybar. The settlement, located 10 kilometres north of the Geoktepe railway station and adjacent to the northern outskirts of the eponymous farmers’ association in the Ahal velayat, became a subject of research. In the past, the settlement was located along one of the routes of the Nisa–Khwarezm section of the Great Silk Road. It was an important centre of trade and crafts of the region.

5 February 2021

Heritage

An Ornament – an Artistic Discovery of Humanity

The cultural heritage of the Turkmen people that originates from the Jeytun period – the Neolithic Period, the New Stone Age (X-V millennia BC), marked by the further progress of the earliest human communities in the territory of modern Turkmenistan, is rich and diverse. During this period, the way of life switched from hunting and gathering to the domestication of animals and the cultivation of plants, in other words, to food production. The settlements of farmers and cattle breeders emerged in the territory of Southern Turkmenistan in the VI millennium BC. Farmers made a significant contribution to ancient culture; they raised the art of pottery and ornamentation to a high artistic level. In Turkmenistan, the early Neolithic monuments have many fragments of ceramic vessels decorated with simple patterns, such as straight, oblique and wavy lines. However, ancient pottery decoration saw its heyday in the Eneolithic period – the Chalcolithic Age.

15 January 2021

Heritage

A Unique workshop of the Bronze age

Turkmenistan is known to have many historical monuments dating back to the antiquity and the Middle Ages. Some of them are world famous, all of them are of great importance for science and are under the close attention of Turkmen archaeologists, who from year to year carry out excavations at them and delight us with new discoveries. It is no secret that the overwhelming number of artefacts found are ceramic items. According to the manufacturing technology and the characteristic design of the vessels, scientists can determine the time of production of such finds. The richness of forms of ceramics, the amazing kitchenware of the Margush potters, made with striking grace and high professionalism, are of particular interest to both specialists and visitors to the State Museum of the State Cultural Centre of Turkmenistan.

8 January 2021

Heritage