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)

American soldiers leaping from an armoured personnel carrier during exercises in Korea, 17th March 1954. (Photo by Three Lions)

A wide-angle view shows the ascent of the shuttle Challenger on January 28, 1986. In the seconds after ignition, the rocket engines' hot blast began the process of destruction. (Photo by NASA)

A groundskeeper uses a bamboo broom at Kasumigaike Pond at Kenrokuen Garden in Kanazawa, Japan on January 12, 2016. The japanese garden, located next to Kanazawa Castle, encompasses over 28 acres in downtown Kanazawa. With two ponds, rolling hills with streams and bridges, is considered a strolling-style landscape garden. It's regarded as one of the top three most beautiful gardens in Japan. (Photo by Linda Davidson/The Washington Post)

Female of pygmy hippopotamus called Malaya from Netherlands in zoo in Dvur Kralove nad Labem, Czech Republic, February 22, 2016. (Photo by David Tanecek/CTK via ZUMA Press)

A girl walks to a synagogue of the Tzanz Hasidic dynasty community to read the Book of Esther, which tells the story of the Jewish festival of Purim, in Netanya, Israel, Wednesday, March 23, 2016. The Jewish holiday of Purim commemorates the Jews' salvation from genocide in ancient Persia, as recounted in the Book of Esther. (Photo by Ariel Schalit/AP Photo)

A man talks on his mobile phone in the village of Devmali in the desert state of Rajasthan, India June 14, 2016. (Photo by Himanshu Sharma/Reuters)

People jump over a campfire during a celebration on the traditional Ivana Kupala (Ivan the Bather) holiday, the ancient tradition, originating from pagan times, is usually marked with grand overnight festivities during which people sing and dance around campfires, believing it will purge them of their sins and make them healthier, in Kiev, Ukraine, July 6, 2016. (Photo by Gleb Garanich/Reuters)