Turkmenbasy Mosque

This mosque claims to be the biggest in Central Asia, is built my Turkmenbasy (the president of Turkmenistan) to celebrate his pilgramage to Mecca (hajj). We went there this morning- it is absolutely huge- the dome has a diameter of 50m. He has his name written in inscriptions above the gate and inside on the dome. Everywhere in this country there are pictures of his portrait, and statues. Arriving in Ashgabat this morning we drove past "The Arch of Neutrality" which has a gold statue of him which rotates to face the sun at all times. (sorry- the image is not good quality, I had to compress it cos the connection is so slow here)