Turkmenbashi Ruhi Mosque
A huge snow-white mosque with four huge minarets and golden domes is located twenty minutes away from Ashgabat, in the ancestral village of the former president of Turkmenistan Saparmurat Niyazov, Kipchak. The name of the mosque, "Turkmenbashi Rukhi", translates from Turkmen as "the spirit of Turkmenbashi". Its construction cost $ 100 million and was completed in 2004. From that moment on, "Rukh Turkmenbashi" is the largest mosque not only in Turkmenistan, but also in the whole of Central Asia. The mosque has a distinctive feature, its walls are painted with sayings not only from the Koran, but also from the book of Turkmenbashi "Ruhnama" ("Book of the Spirit"), which was declared in Turkmenistan "The Holy Book and the spiritual Code of the Turkmen people".
It can accommodate up to 20 thousand believers. All state sadaqahs are held here — traditional sacrificial dinners in honor of holidays and significant dates according to the Muslim religion. In 2004, Rukh Turkmenbashi received the status of the main mosque of Turkmenistan. At the same time, the mausoleum of the president was built next to the mosque, inside of which there are five sarcophagi. Four in the corners — Niyazov's mother and father are buried in them, as well as two brothers who died during the 1948 earthquake. In the center, since the construction, there is a sarcophagus intended for Turkmenbashi himself, in which he was buried in 2006.