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)

Pusha the cat, which adopted four bereaved baby squirrels and currently feeds and lives with them, lies at a local park of miniatures in Bakhchisaray, Crimea on April 25, 2019. (Photo by Alexey Pavlishak/Reuters)

Katie Boulter celebrates winning her match against Kazakhstan for Great Britain who went on to win the Federation Cup Tennis World Group II play-off at Copper Box Arena in London, England on April 21, 2019. (Photo by Shaun Brooks/Action Plus via Getty Images)

A guest proposes to his companion as they arrive for the screening of “Mektoub, My Love: Intermezzo” during the 72nd annual Cannes Film Festival, in Cannes, France, 23 May 2019. The movie is presented in the Official Competition of the festival which runs from 14 to 25 May. (Photo by Julien Warnand/EPA/EFE)

Members of team China perform during the Artistic Swimming Team Free Final at the FINA Swimming World Championships in Gwangju, South Korea, 19 July 2019. (Photo by Antonio Bat/EPA/EFE/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

Spanish actress Rossy de Palma poses as she arrives by taxi boat at the pier of the Excelsior Hotel on August 30, 2019 during the 76th Venice Film Festival at Venice Lido. (Photo by Alberto Pizzoli/AFP Photo)

A view of the Lakhta Center multifunctional complex under construction in St Petersburg' s Primorsky District and a cable stayed bridge of the Western High- Speed Diameter toll motorway in St Petersburg, Russia on March 5, 2018. (Photo by EPA/EFE/Rex Features/Shutterstock)