Tajikistan

Shorbulak Observatory is one of the world’s highest astronomical sites, perched at over 4,300 m in the remote mountains near Murghab, in the Tajik Pamirs. Built during the Soviet era for space and infrared research, its dry, cloudless skies made it an ideal place for observing stars and cosmic rays. Though now abandoned, the observatory remains accessible and fascinating to visit: rusted domes, old telescopes, and crumbling Soviet-era buildings stand silent against a dramatic mountain backdrop.

The Shakhty cave paintings, located at over 4,200 meters altitude in the Eastern Pamirs, near Murghab, are among the oldest examples of rock art in Central Asia. Discovered in 1958 by Soviet archaeologist Vladimir Ranov, they depict a striking hunting scene painted in red pigment derived from local iron oxide. The artwork shows a central figure—possibly a hunter or a shaman—wearing a bird-shaped mask and aiming at a wild boar, accompanied by yaks and a bear, some of which are pierced with arrows.

The National Museum of Antiquities of Tajikistan is the country's leading archaeological and cultural-historical museum located in the capital Dushanbe. It was founded in 1934 as the Exhibition of Achievements of National Economy and Archaeological Research of the Tajik Base of the USSR Academy of Sciences. In 1996, the museum was renamed the National Museum of Antiquities of Tajikistan, and in 2001 it opened in a new two-story building in the center of Dushanbe.