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)

Members of the Women's veteran movement take part in the March of Defenders of Ukraine as part of Ukraine's Independence Day celebrations, in Kyiv, Ukraine on August 24, 2020. (Photo by Gleb Garanich/Reuters)

May Matthews (left) and Romy Clark from Bonhams Edinburgh carry a carved wooden model of an Atlantic Salmon by Rogers Brookes (estimate £1,500-2,000) during a photo call for the upcoming Home and Interiors sale, and Sporting and Wildlife sale, at Bonhams, Edinburgh, on September 16, 2020. (Photo by Jane Barlow/PA Images via Getty Images)

A man reacts as health workers help collect a nasal swab sample to test for COVID-19 in Hyderabad, India, Thursday, September 17, 2020. As India’s coronavirus confirmed cases jump by a record 97,894 cases in the past 24 hours, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government faced a scathing opposition criticism in Parliament for its handling of the pandemic and a contracting economy leaving millions jobless on Thursday. (Photo by Mahesh Kumar A./AP Photo)

Jesse Larios, 33, from Los Angeles, wears a bear suit while walking along Hollister Road in Gilroy, California, U.S., April 21, 2021. Larios, also known as Bear Sun on social media, is walking from his home in Los Angeles to San Francisco while wearing the bear suit as a social media fundraising event. (Photo by Brittany Hosea-Small/Reuters)

Chinese Taipei's Hsiao-Wen Huang reacts after winning her fight against Serbia's Nina Radovanovic during their women's fly (48-51kg) quarter-final boxing match during the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games at the Kokugikan Arena in Tokyo on August 1, 2021. (Photo by Ueslei Marcelino/Reuters)

A child is pictured with the face covered in blood during a religious procession to mark Ashura in Nabatieh, southern Lebanon on August 19, 2021. (Photo by Aziz Taher/Reuters)

Revelers perform during the Myths and Legends parade in Medellin, Antioquia department, Colombia on December 8, 2021. (Photo by Joaquin Sarmiento/AFP Photo)