In Ashgabat one finds the Russian bazaar, or in Turkmen, Gulistan, which is the largest and oldest covered market in Turkmenistan. The market is located in the middle of the city and was built in 1972, from where it grew and formed into the present framework through the following 10 years until 1982. The Russian bazaar was designed by the Russian architect Vladimir Visotin and was part of a series of buildings that was built under what was called the ‘Ashgabat Reconstruction Program’ from 1970-1980. Therefore, the market is also built in Soviet modern style, and the Turkmen sculptor Klych Yarmamedov was given the task of decorating it. He added, among other things, a large, abstract, sculpture in the middle of it all, and which the Turkmen call ‘bowl of gazelles’. It also has a practical function in that it covers the air duct to the market.The architectural expression of the Russian Bazaar was so impressive that the team behind the market was awarded the ‘Prize of the Council of Ministers of the USSR’, which at the time was one of the greatest recognitions one could get in the field of architecture. In 2001, the Russian bazaar underwent a ‘make-over’ and was covered with white marble – as is the tradition in Turkmenistan.
