Travel photographer Amos Chapple recently crossed into Turkmenistan on a three-day transit visa and was able to photograph many of the sights and monuments in Ashgabat, the capital and largest city. Turkmenistan is a single-party country, a former Soviet state, run by a president at the center of a cult of personality.

Photo: A young couple leave the Alem Entertainment Center in Ashgabat. The current president has a history of breaking obscure records. In 2012 the wheel atop this complex was entered into the Guinness Book of World Records as the world's largest enclosed Ferris wheel. The structure was built at a cost of $90m. (Photo by Amos Chapple via The Atlantic)

Colombia' s Caterine Ibarguen competes in the women' s long jump during the 2018 IAAF Birmingham Diamond League athletics meeting at Alexander Stadium in Birmingham on August 18, 2018. (Photo by Peter Cziborra/Action Images via Reuters)

Supermodel Bella Hadid (L) arrives at the Peppermint Club to watch her bestfriend, Jesse Jo Stark, perform her music in Los Angeles, CA on August 29, 2018. (Photo by Photographer Group/Splash News and Pictures)

In this February 19, 2017 photo, a couple dances during the “If you don't give me....then you lend me” Carnival street party on Ipanema beach, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The typical view of Carnival in Brazil is anything goes, with no headdress too big, no outfit too small, no song too ribald, but this year some organizers of the world's best known party are drawing the line at lyrics that are sexist, homophobic or racist. (Photo by Silvia Izquierdo/AP Photo)

A light installation called “Run Beyond” by Angelo Bonello is seen on the launch day of the Light Festival at Battersea Power station on January 13, 2022 in London, England. Running from January 13 to February 27, the curated collection of installations includes work by six artists, with two displays making their UK exhibition debut. (Photo by Leon Neal/Getty Images)

Vegas Golden Knights center Mattias Janmark (26) punches Nashville Predators center Nick Cousins (21) in a fight during the third period at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada on March 24, 2022. (Photo by Stephen R. Sylvanie/USA TODAY Sports)

Students wearing masks rest amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic in Seoul, South Korea, August 25, 2020. (Photo by Kim Hong-Ji/Reuters)

Customers are seen in front of a shop that reopened in central Copenhagen, Denmark, 01 March 2021. Shops reopened after several months of closure due to the coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic. (Photo by Philip Davali/EPA/EFE)