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)

A Darjeeling Himalayan Railway steam train, which runs on a 2 foot gauge railway and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, passes by a market in Ghum, India, June 27, 2019. (Photo by Ranita Roy/Reuters)

Models display creations by fashion house Andres Sarda during the Mercedes Benz Fashion Week, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in Madrid, Spain, April 8, 2021. (Photo by Sergio Perez/Reuters)

A view of St Thomas Becket church during the morning frost, in Fairfield, Kent, England, Thursday, January 6, 2022, following freezing overnight temperatures. (Photo by Gareth Fuller/PA Wire via AP Photo)

A Midshipmen from the Naval Academy eyes the Navy mascot behind her before the first half of the the 125th Army-Navy game at Northwest Stadium in Landover, Maryland, on December 14, 2024. (Photo by Danny Wild/USA TODAY Sports)

Leslie Cliff and his wife Violet, English figure skating pair. Olympic games of Garmisch-Partenkirchen (Germany), 1936. (Photo by Roger Viollet Collection/Getty Images)

A woman poses as she beside David Hammons painting on an America flag “Injustice case” at the exhibition Soul Of A Nation, exploring the art made by African American artists between 1963 and 1983, in London, Tuesday, July 11, 2017. The exhibition starts on July 12, 2017 nd ends on Oct.22, 2017. (Photo by Frank Augstein/AP Photo)

Queen of drums, Sabrina Sato of Unidos de Vila Isabel samba school during the Champions Parade on the last day of Rio de Janeiro 2022 Carnival at Marques de Sapucai Sambadrome on May 01, 2022 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Rio de Janeiro's iconic carnival returns to the sambodrome after a two year suspension and postponements due to the coronavirus pandemic. (Photo by Wagner Meier/Getty Images)