Dushanbe is the Capital city and largest city of Tajikistan. , Dushanbe had a population of 1,564,700, with this population being largely Tajiks. Until 1929, the city was known in Russian as Dyushambe, and from 1929 to 1961 as Stalinabad, after Joseph Stalin. Dushanbe is located in the Gissar Valley, bounded by the Gissar Range in the north and east and the Babatag Range, Aktau, Rangontau and Karatau mountains in the south, and has an elevation of 750–930 m. The city is divided into four districts: Ismail Samani, Avicenna, Ferdowsi, and Mansur I.
In ancient times, what is now or is close to modern Dushanbe was settled by various empires and peoples, including Mousterian tool-users, various neolithic cultures, the Achaemenid Empire, Greco-Bactria, the Kushan Empire, and Hephthalites. In the Middle Ages, more settlements began near modern-day Dushanbe such as Hulbuk and its famous palace. From the 17th to early 20th century, Dushanbe grew into a market village controlled at times by the Beg of Hisor, Balkh, and finally Bukhara, before being conquered by the Russian Empire. Dushanbe was captured by the Bolsheviks in 1922, and the town was made the capital of the Tajik Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic in 1924, which commenced Dushanbe's development and rapid population growth that continued until the Tajik Civil War. After the war, the city became capital of an independent Tajikistan and continued its growth and development into a modern city, today home to many international conferences.
Much of Dushanbe's education system dates from Soviet times and has a legacy of state control; today the largest university in Dushanbe, the Tajik National University, is funded by the government. Dushanbe International Airport is the primary airport serving the city. Other forms of transport include the trolleybus system dating from 1955, the small rail system, and the roads that traverse the city. Dushanbe's electricity is primarily hydroelectric, produced by the Nurek Dam, and the aging water system dates from 1932. Tajikistan's healthcare system is concentrated in Dushanbe, meaning that the major hospitals of the country are in the city. The city makes up 20% of Tajikistan's GDP and has large industrial, financial, retail, and tourism sectors. Parks and main sights of the city include Victory Park, Rudaki Park, the Tajikistan National Museum, the Dushanbe Flagpole, and the Tajikistan National Museum of Antiquities.
Near Dushanbe International Airport, Bronze Age burials were discovered dating from the end of the second to the beginning of the first millennium BC. Achaemenid dishes and ceramics were found east of Dushanbe in Qiblai, as the city was controlled by the Achaemenids from the sixth century BC. Archaeological remnants of a small citadel dating to the fifth century BC have been discovered south
The Seleucid Empire conquered the region in 312 BC. A small Greco-Bactrian settlement of about was dated to the end of the third century BC. The oldest coin found in the city is a Greco-Bactrian coin depicting Eucratides I (r. 171–145 BC) and another was found depicting Dionysus.
The ruins of a Buddhist monastery of the Hephthalites period of the late fifth to sixth century, now referred to as Ajina Tepe, lie in the Vakhsh District near Dushanbe. Other settlements from the Tokharistan period have also been discovered, like the town of Shishikona that was destroyed during the Soviet era and depopulated during the Mongol invasion. International trade picked up during this period in the region. A castle was also discovered dating from the time period. In 582, the Western Turkic Khaganate gained control over the region. In the seventh century, a Chinese pilgrim visited the region and mentioned the city of Shuman, possibly on the site of modern Dushanbe.
After the Arab conquest, the Samanids controlled the region, which was involved in crafts and trade, and in the 10th-12th centuries the medieval city of Hulbuk developed near Dushanbe, which notably contained the palace of the governor of Khulbuk, "an artistic treasure of the Tajik people", among other smaller medieval settlements like Shishikhona. The Kharakhanids minted coins from 1018 to 1019 found in the city. The city came under the influence of the Ghurids from the 12th to 13th centuries.
Other smaller settlements were founded during the Late Middle Ages after the Mongol invasion, such as Abdullaevsky and Shainak. Timur conquered the region during this time period and various other empires controlled the city. The city's economy started to rely more heavily on crafts and trade.
By 1826, the town was called Dushanbe Qurghan (, Dushanbe Qurghon, with the suffix qurƣon from Turkic languages qurğan, meaning "fortress"). It was first Russified as Dyushambe (Дюшамбе) in 1875. It had a caravanserai, a stopping point for travelers to Samarkand, Khujand, Kulob and the Pamirs. It boasted 14 with Kuttab, 2 Madrasa, and 14 teahouses at the turn of the 19th century. At that time, the town was a citadel on a steep bank on the left bank of the Varzob River with 10,000 residents.
In 1920, the last Emir of Bukhara briefly took refuge in Dushanbe after being overthrown by the Bolshevik revolution. After the Red Army conquered the area the next year, he fled to Afghanistan on 4 March 1921. In February 1922, the town was taken by Basmachi troops led by Enver Pasha after a siege, but on 14 July 1922 again came under the power of the Bolsheviks soon before the death of Enver Pasha on 4 August 1922 outside of Dushanbe. It was a part of the Bukharan PSR until the formation of the Tajik ASSR.
Dushanbe was chosen instead of larger-populated villages in Tajikistan because of its role as a crossroads of Tajikistan for its large market served as a meeting place for much of Tajikistan's population. Along with its market, there was a lively livestock trade as well as trade in fabrics, leather, Tin, and . The mild Mediterranean climate was another reason Soviet authorities chose the city as the capital.
Before the Emir's relocation to the city, Dushanbe had the only Jewish population in Eastern Bukhara (of about 600) whom were involved in trade and tailoring. When the Emir moved to the city in 1920, however, the Jewish population's property was plundered and the Jews were relocated to Hisor. They were only let back into Dushanbe with its conquest by the Red Army, and in the 1920s and 1930s their population gradually increased with Bukharan Jews immigrants. Dushanbe was also officially recognized as the capital of the Emirate of Bukhara during its waning days as it served as the last refuge of the last Emir of Bukhara during its conquest by the Soviet Union, possibly another motivating factor for the decision to establish the new Tajik ASSR capital in the village. The population during Soviet conquest and Basmachi revolts declined from an already meager 3,140 in 1920 to only 283 in 1924 with only 40 houses still standing. To aid in the recovery, the Soviet authorities temporarily exempted much of the population from having to pay taxes. In 1923, the Soviets created Dushanbe's first telegraph link to Bukhara, initiated its first railroad to Termez, and set up a telephone switchboard in 1924.
In the years that followed, the city developed at a rapid pace. The Soviets transformed the area into a center for cotton and silk production, and tens of thousands of people relocated to the city. The population also increased with thousands of ethnic Tajiks migrating to Tajikistan from Uzbekistan following the transfer of Bukhara and Samarkand to the Uzbek SSR as part of national delimitation in Central Asia. Industry during the time period was limited, focused on local production, although it had expanded by nine times since 1913 by 1940. The first bus line began operating in 1930 and in 1938, Komsomol members constructed Komsomolskoye Lake in the city.
Many of these projects occurred under the 1925–1932 mayoralty of Abdukarim Rozykov, one of the first mayors of Dushanbe, who sought to transform it into a "model communist city" through modernization and urban planning. Mikhail Kalitin continued the industrial development of Dushanbe, building the Komsomolskoye Lake and promoting industry in the city. Towards the end of this period, in the late 1930s, there were 4,295 buildings in Dushanbe.
During World War 2, the population of Dushanbe and Tajikistan swelled with 100,000 evacuees from the Eastern Front that led to the deployment of 17 hospitals in the city. The city's industry also greatly increased during the war, as the Soviets wanted to move critical infrastructure far behind enemy lines, and industries like textile manufacturing and food processing grew. In 1954, there were 30 schools in the city; a medical institute named after Avicenna; the Stalinabad Academy of Sciences; the University of Stalinabad, which was founded in 1947 and had 1,500 students; and the Stalinabad Pedagogical Institute for Woman, established on 1 September 1953. In 1960, gas supply reached the capital through a gas pipeline opened from Kyzyl to Tumxuk to Dushanbe. On 10 November 1961, as part of de-Stalinization, Stalinabad was renamed back to Dushanbe, the name it retains to this day. In 1960, under the leadership of Mahmudbek Narzibekov, Dushanbe Zoo was built in the city. Later in the decade the mayor developed a plan to end the housing shortage and provide free apartments.
The Nurek Dam, which was the tallest dam in the world at the time, was completed south east of Dushanbe during the 1960s. The Rogun Dam, upstream from Nurek Dam, was started in that period as well. They were both meant to showcase Soviet innovation and development in Tajikistan. However, while the Nurek Dam was completed, the Rogun Dam was cancelled in the 1970s because of stagnating Soviet economic growth. On 2 August 1979, the population of Dushanbe reached 500,000, and it had the highest population growth rate in the Soviet Union.
On 10–11 February 1990, 300 demonstrators gathered at the Communist Party Central Committee building after it was rumored that the Soviet government planned to relocate tens of thousands of Armenians refugees to Tajikistan. In reality, only 29 Armenians went to Dushanbe and were housed by their family members. However, the crowd kept growing in size to 3-5 thousand people; soon after, violence broke out. Martial law was quickly declared and troops were sent in to protect ethnic minorities and defend against vandalism and looting. The number of people protesting increased significantly, however, and they attacked the Central Committee building. The 29 Armenians were quickly evacuated on an emergency flight after shots were fired.
A few days after, and with looting still occurring throughout the city, demonstrators created the Provisional People's Committee, or the Temporary Committee for Crisis Resolution, which put forward demands such as "the expulsion of Armenian refugees, the resignation of the government and the removal of the Communist Party, the closure of an aluminum smelter in western Tajikistan for environmental reasons, equitable distribution of profits from cotton production, and the release of 25 protesters taken into custody."
Many high-ranking officials resigned and the protector's goal of toppling the government was almost successful, but Soviet Union troops moved into the city, declared the demands illegal, and rejected the resignation of the high-ranking officials. 16-25 people were killed in the violence; many if not most were Russian.
The riots were largely fueled by concerns about housing shortages for the Tajik population, but they coincided with a wave of nationalist unrest that swept Transcaucasia and other Central Asian states during the twilight of Mikhail Gorbachev's rule. Ethnic rioting in Dushanbe, New York Times, 13 February 1990. Retrieved 18 October 2008
After the increase of organized opposition from the Democratic Party of Tajikistan and Rastokhez, glasnost by Gorbachev, economic contraction, and increased opposition by regional elites, Qahhor Mahkamov disbanded the Communist Party of Tajikistan on 27 August 1991 and quit the party the next day. On 9 September 1991, Tajikistan's government declared independence from the Soviet Union.
Dushanbe was controlled by the Popular Front-supported government during most of the 1992–1997 Tajikistani Civil War, although the Islamist and Democratic United Tajik Opposition managed to capture the capital in 1992 until 8000 Russian-backed and Uzbekistani-backed government troops regained control of Dushanbe. Most of the Russian population fled the capital during the violence of this time period while large amounts of rural Tajiks moved in; by 1993, more than half of the Russian population had fled. The factions during the civil war were organized primarily upon regional lines. The war was ended by a 27 June 1997 armistice, administered by the UN, that guaranteed the opposition 30% of the positions in the government.
In 2000, Dushanbe received internet access for the first time. In 2004, the UNESCO declared Dushanbe as a city of peace. Mahmadsaid Ubaidulloev was declared mayor of Dushanbe in 1996, after during the civil war era many said he was in real control of the government. He was the mayor of the capital for the longest term of any mayor, 21 years, until 2017. From independence, the city's economy has grown consistently up until the COVID-19 recession. In January 2017, Rustam Emomali, current President Emomali Rahmon's son, was appointed Mayor of Dushanbe, a move which is seen by some analysts as a step to reaching the top of the government.
Dushanbe is located in an area with high seismicity. The magnitude of potential earthquakes is thought to reach a maximum of 7.5-8. Over the past 100 years, many earthquakes from a 5-6 magnitude have been felt in the city, such as the 1949 Khait earthquake.
Winter in Dushanbe begins on 7 December and ends on 22 February; spring starts on 22 February and ends on 17 May. During springtime, and rain are at their highest along with thunderstorms and hail, which causes significant damage and occurs for around 3 days per year. Summer starts on 17 May and ends on 14 August, the best period for agriculture. Dry weather sets in during this, as evidenced by a sharp drop in precipitation during the summer. A warm and dry autumn begins on 14 August and ends on 7 December.
There are 14 identified species of mammals in urban Dushanbe, including a fox, a weasel, the marbled polecat, the long-eared hedgehog, five bats, and five rodents. There are 130 identified bird species in the city, such as rock pigeons, , and Turtle Doves. Migratory birds are common, often staying only in fall and summer. There are 47 identified reptiles in Dushanbe, such as , , , and . , like the marsh frog and the Bufotes, live in the cleaner water bodies of the city. The 14 identified fish species of Dushanbe live in the rivers, lakes, and ponds of the city. Some species are the Schizothorax, the Tajik char, and the Glyptosternon in the Varzob River, along with 7 in the Kofarnihon River, and species like carp, goldfish, Striped shiner, and Mosquitofish in the lakes and ponds. 300 identified species of insects inhabit the city, mostly , Psyllidae, , , bugs, , and Butterfly. The Endemism Hissar grape hawk moth lives in the city as well, and malaria-carrying insects have been increasing in the city. Phytonematodes are a menace to plants in the city, with 55 distinct identified species, the most damaging of which are the root gall nematodes. Rare or endangered species include the radiant tachysphex, the white-bellied arrow eagle, and the European free-tailed bat.
Ismail Samani (, Ismoili Somoni; ) | October (Октябрьский) | 37.6 | 148,700 | Sami Sharif Hamid |
Avicenna (Sino) (, Abūali Ibni Sino; ) | Frunzensky (Фрунзенский) | 62.2 | 326,100 | Salimzoda Nusratullo Faizullo |
Ferdowsi (, Firdavsi; ) | Central (Центральный) | 54.5 | 209,000 | Yusufi Muhammadrahim |
Mansur I (, Shohmansur; ) | Railway (Железнодорожный) | 48.9 | 162,600 | Bilol Ibrohim |
+Land use in Dushanbe as of 2020 !Land !Area (Hectare) | |
Irrigated land | 2,091.75 |
Orchards | 145.21 |
Silk gardens | 12.28 |
Citrus orchards | 2.10 |
Pastures | 25.79 |
Settlements | 6390.85 |
Private farms/gardens | 65.79 |
Swamp | 3.7 |
Bush thickets | 1372.0026 |
Reservoirs | 1436.66 |
Underground passages | 310.2 |
Construction | 7227.51 |
Land not used for agriculture | 1235.03 |
+ Ethnic composition of Dushanbe by year !Year !Tajik !Russian !Uzbek !Tatar !Ukrainian !Jewish !Korean !German !Turkmen !Kirghiz !Kazakh !Other | ||||||||||||
1939 | 12.05 | 56.95 | 9.02 | 4.71 | 5.95 | 4.09 | .01 | .46 | 0.05 | 0.11 | 0.42 | 6.18 |
1959 (2025). 9785898700713, Glavnai︠a︡ nauchnai︠a︡ redakt︠s︡ii︠a︡ Tadzhikskoĭ nat︠s︡ionalʹnoĭ ėnt︠s︡iklopedii. ISBN 9785898700713 | 18.7 | 47.83 | 10.31 | 5.5 | 4.4 | 3.88 | 0.14 | 3.55 | 0.05 | 0.11 | 0.17 | 5.36 |
1970 | 26.4 | 41.92 | 10.26 | 5.13 | 3.54 | 3.04 | 0.87 | 3.62 | 0.08 | 0.14 | 0.15 | 4.85 |
1979 | 31.61 | 38.51 | 10.03 | 4.73 | 3.59 | 2.26 | 1.01 | 3.09 | 0.11 | 0.14 | 0.15 | 4.77 |
1989 | 39.13 | 32.37 | 10.43 | 4.09 | 3.55 | 2 | 1.10 | 2.28 | 0.12 | 0.17 | 0.18 | 4.58 |
2000 | 84.4 | 5.1 | 9.1 | .7 | .3 | .02 | .06 | 1.32 | ||||
2003 | 83.4 | 5.1 | .7 | .3 | .1 | 1.1 | 9.3 | |||||
2010 | 89.5 | 2.63 | 6.71 | 0.26 | .1 | 0.08 | 0.03 | 0.7 |
On 9 September 2009, Mayor Mahmadsaid Ubaidulloyev endorsed the Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization's plan to recognize Dushanbe as the 2010 capital of Islamic culture. In October 2009, President Emomali Rahmon launched the construction of a new central mosque in Dushanbe built at the expense of investors. It will replace the existing Haji Yakub Mosque and should become the largest in Central Asia. Construction began in 2011 with an original opening date in 2014; however in February 2021, its revised opening date was delayed.
The Russian Orthodox Church is another religious group in the city. St. Nicholas Cathedral in Dushanbe is a center of worship for the Orthodox community.
The People's Commissariat of Education of the Tajik SSR was created on 11 February 1925 in Dushanbe. Higher education began to be established in the 1930s with the creation of a pedagogical institute in Dushanbe in 1931. In 1939, the Tajik State Medical University was founded in Dushanbe and soon after in 1944 the Tajik Agrarian Institute moved to Dushanbe. Before the outbreak of World War Two, there were 32 secondary schools and two institutes in the city. While World War 2 slowed the growth of higher education, afterwards in 1947 the Tajik State University was created. In 1956 a polytechnic institute was created in the city along with the Institute of Physical Culture in 1971, the Institute of Arts in 1973, and the Tajik Pedagogical Institute of Russian Language and Literature in 1980 which became the Tajik State Institute of Languages in 1987. In 1990, the Technological University of Tajikistan was founded.
The Soviet system was based on the needs of the economy; the agrarian, medical, and polytechnic institutes were all founded to aid the economy. Outside of that, most higher education in the system were in the form of pedagogical colleges. Restrictions on political subjects such as history hampered advancements in those fields. After independence, universities less precisely tailored their courses to the economy and as a result other professions proliferated in schools such as the Tajik University of Law, Business and Politics.
The civil war after independence devastated the education system of the city, with state budgets falling from 11% to 2% during the time period. While state spending declined, private institutions temporarily developed in the market economy, accounting for growth in the number of universities in Dushanbe after independence.
The modern state university in Dushanbe, the Tajik State Pedagogical University, has an enrollment in the thousands. Institutions such as the Tajik Technical University, the Tajik Agrarian University, the Tajik State University of Commerce and the Technological University of Tajikistan, some of which existed during the Soviet era, grew and admitted anywhere from 5000 to 9000 students.
The Russian-language Russian-Tajik Slavonic University was created in the 1990s during a trend of closure of Russian language instruction due to the exodus of Russians during the civil war. The Islamic Institute of Tajikistan, created with the goal of countering Islamic extremism, had 924 students as of 2020. The University of International Relations, which was founded by a Tajik American, was founded in opposition to the government and produced opposition leaders until it was shut down. In 2009, due to the efforts of Emomali Rahmon, a Dushanbe branch of the Moscow State University was opened. 70% of the instructors are Russian, while only 30% are Tajik. Other branches of Russian universities in Dushanbe include a branch of the Moscow Institute of Steel and Alloy and a branch of the Moscow Energy Institute.
The Tajik National University is the most prominent in the city and the country. With an enrollment of over 21,000 students and a large number of programs it is the flagship university of Tajikistan. Uniquely, the university is directly funded by the government while also being more independent of it compared to other state universities. While in principle this provides academic freedom, in reality the government is still heavily involved, censors content, and controls appointments at the university.
Many highway and tunnel construction projects are underway or have recently been completed (). Major projects include rehabilitation of the Dushanbe – Chanak (Uzbek border), Dushanbe – Kulma Pass (Chinese border), Bokhtar – Nizhny Panj (Afghan border) highways and construction of tunnels under the mountain passes of Anzob Tunnel, Shakhristan, Shar-SharThe Shar-Shar auto tunnel links Tajikistan to China, The 2.3km Shar-Shar car tunnel linking Tajikistan and China opened to traffic on Aug. 30, 2009 Siyavush Mekhtan and Chormazak. Chormaghzak Tunnel renamed Khatlon Tunnel and Shar-Shar Tunnel renamed Ozodi Tunnel, 12/02/2014 15:49, Payrav Chorshanbiyev
Today, Tajikistan's principal railways are in the southern region and connect Dushanbe with the industrial areas of the Gissar and Vakhsh River valleys and with Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan and Russia. Tajikistan's railways are owned and operated by Tajik Railway. In the early 2000s, a new railway line from Dushanbe to Gharm to Jirgatol was constructed that would connect the country to Russia, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan while not going through Uzbekistan due to contemporary geopolitical tensions. A proposed line from Dushanbe to Herat and Mashhad is also being promoted by the government. On 18 June 2018, the first railway between Dushanbe and Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan, completed its trip through Uzbekistan's Karakalpakstan. Tajikistan's northern railway system remains isolated from its other railway lines, including those of Dushanbe. There is also a service from Dushanbe to Khujand and the northern Uzbek town of Pakhtaabad.
In 2020, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development gave $8 million to repair the system. As of 2020, Dushanbe had 7 trolleybus routes with 11 million passengers a years. While trolleybuses were the main mode of transport in the Soviet era, today they account for only 2% of motorized trips.
Dushanbe trolleybuses are based upon the ZiU-9 trolleybus design.
In 1934 and 1935, the Griprogor Institute, based in Leningrad, created a master plan for the construction of Dushanbe. It was approved on 3 March 1938. The city center during the reconstruction shifted to Red Square and Frunze Park, the location of many workers demonstrations and military parades into the forties. In the later half of the decade, much of the modern infrastructure and utilities for the city were created. In the 1940s, architecture was focused more on decoration and the neoclassical style.
1955 heralded in a new era of architecture with the publication of "On the elimination of excesses in the design," which eventually ended the neoclassical period and integrated the city architecture into modernist, minimalistic Soviet trends. In 1966, a new master plan for the city was created due to the city's rapid growth. The first skyscraper in Dushanbe, the Hotel Dushanbe, was erected in 1964. High-rise buildings were developed in the mid-70s against the wishes of the Tajik Institute of Earthquake Engineering and Seismology, which viewed such developments as dangerous in an earthquake which they predicted would occur in the near future.
In the 1980s, more technically complex and creative designs were built by a new generation of architects along with more attention on ecological issues. In the late 1990s, more 9-12 story concrete houses were built and private companies grew to 75% of the housing market. Minimalist influences continued to be felt from the 60s up to the 90s.
In the 21st century, new construction projects such as tall skyscrapers, a new parliament building, and the national museum were or are being built. However, the new architectural styles of the modern day resulted in the demolition of many historical, Soviet-era buildings in the center of the city, such as the Central Post Office and the Mayakovsky Theatre, with the exception of a small list of 15 historically significant buildings. The central city mainly consists of wide boulevards and Russian-style buildings today, while suburban areas are comparatively underdeveloped.
In 2007, there was a major energy crisis because of the cold winter in Dushanbe that rendered Dushanbe's Soviet-era energy system ineffective and caused a severe crisis due to lack of heating. Since 2007, there have been energy shortages during the winter in Dushanbe. In 2009, Tajikistan's energy trade with other countries was suspended, and in 2012, natural gas imports from Uzbekistan were cut off, which further exacerbated the crisis, although the natural gas imports were restored in 2018. The Nurek Dam, as of 2016, provides around 3/4 of the country's power. New hydroelectric plants are being planned and in 2017, the government proclaimed an end to the rolling blackouts; however, in 2020, rolling blackouts continued. Barqi Tojik is the major energy producer for the city and produces 75% of the electricity in the country. To alleviate the energy crisis, a second coal plant for the city is planned with extensive Chinese involvement, but has been criticized for pollution and negative environmental effects.
Varzob's three power plants generated 150 million kWh per year in 2004, and Dushanbe's power supply, built on the idea of a double ring, has an outer ring of power transmission lines from Nurek Dam to Dushanbe to Yovon at a voltage of 220 kW and an inner ring which covers the perimeter of the city and consists of 110 kW power lines.
Sari Osiyo, founded in 1933, is another one of the five cemeteries. It is one of the oldest in the city and has graves from the late 19th century. For the 9-month period in 2019, 225 were buried here. The Christian cemetery is another one of the five, the least visited although frequented by the 201st Russian division. It uses 84.3 hectares of land and saw 197 new graves over the same nine-month period. Shokhmansur is the last of the five main cemeteries and saw 65 burials over the 9-month period. The Jewish cemetery of the city, one of the fourteen unofficial ones, is looked after by the Congress of Bukharan Jews.
Among the main medical institutions of Dushanbe are specialized republican hospitals and centers, city polyclinics No. 1-5, the city infectious diseases hospital, the children's infectious diseases hospital, and the departmental hospitals of the country's power ministries. Медицина: лікарні, госпіталі, клініки на www.yellow-pages.kz/tj/ (Таджикистан: індустріально-комерційний довідник) («Жовті сторінки» Таджикистану) Citizens receive care through their assigned clinics in the city. Some hospitals in Dushanbe include the Mansurov Clinic, the Tajik Railways Hospital, the Shifobakhsh National Medical Center, and the Istiqlol Medical Complex. Khoja Obi Garm, a Soviet-era sanatorium, still is in operation today and uses radon treatments, among others. Temporary hospitals were established during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Dushanbe has extensive international trade. Exports from Dushanbe consisted of $8,343,200 during the first half of 2019, and overall foreign trade turnover was $398,080,900 in 2018. The primary countries Dushanbe exports to are Turkey (42.8% of the total), Iran (28.0%), Russia (10.8%), Afghanistan (7.3%), China (1.2%), Poland (1.2%), and others. For imports, Russia makes up 54.5% of the total, Kazakhstan 13.5%, China 6.8%, Italy 3.4%, Turkey 2.6%, Turkmenistan 2.5%, Ukraine 2.1%, Iran 1.4%, the United Arab Emirates 1.2%, and others make up the rest.
During and during the decade after the Soviet invasion, most industries were focused on meeting local demand with local materials. Meat packing, soap production, bricks, lumber, silk thread, leather, clothing, and generation of electric power were all local industries during the time period. In 1932, 776 workers were employed in industry, while in 1938, 12 thousand were. During World War 2, the city's industry grew significantly with the Soviet decision to relocate industry eastwards to cities like Dushanbe, specifically light industries like textile manufacturing and food processing. Industry output increased by 2.5 times from 1940 to 1945. About 1/3 of the industrial and white-collar labor force of Tajikistan is located in Dushanbe, despite containing less than 10 percent of Tajikistan's population. From January to August 2019, there were 455 manufacturing companies in Dushanbe, producing 1,644,745,400 Somoni worth of products. The majority of that, 63.9%, was from the processing industry, 34.5% was from electricity, water, gas, and air purification, and the other 1.6% was from the non-metallic construction industry. The industry produces over 300 types of products. Exports from the industrial sector consisted of $1,535,500 during the time period.
The main industrial products exported from the city are cotton yarn, finished Cotton Fabric, hosiery, cable products, Agriculture products, tobacco products, and trade equipment, among others. Industry, as of 2019, employed 20746 people, with an average salary of 1428.02 somoni. Light industry is the most mature industry in the city, aided by the location of raw materials in the country. Some large companies in light industry are Nassoch, which processes large amounts of cotton fiber, Chevar and Guliston, which both produce garments, and Nafisa, which produces hosiery. The electrical, engineering, and Metallurgy industries are also prominent in the republic. Tajiktekstilmash, which produces varied products for agriculture and electricity, and Tajikcable, which produces cables, are two well known companies from that sector of the economy. Somon-Tachkhizot, which produces electronic goods, Torgmash, which produces goods for trading companies, and Valve Plant, which produces iron products are some other prominent companies in the industry. The food processing industry also has a presence in the city with many wineries, Dairy farming and meatpacking plants, canneries, and Bakery all in the city. Various other industries exist in the city as well. These include the building materials industry, which produces cement, oil (with 3 main gas deposits) and plastics;
In 2014, the retail sector was involved in 2.6 billion somoni of transactions. In the service sector, hotels, restaurants, canteens and cafes sold services worth 296.6 million somoni. The paid services of the city in 2014 amounted to 5662.2 somoni per capita.
Dushanbe is the capital of tourism of the Economic Cooperation Organization and is served by more than 40 hotels. The building of 9 modern hotels, with room for more than 1000 people, is being planned.
In 2018 and 2019, numerous initiatives, such as Dushanbe becoming a member of the World Tourism Cities Federation, different festivals, legislation promoting the city, an art gallery, and the establishment of the Year of Tourism and Folk Crafts in 2018 all served to promote the tourism industry. The Dushanbe Summer Fest, another promoted festival, is notable for its internet connectivity. Compared with the rest of the country, however, Dushanbe is a less popular tourist destination, partially due to its relatively recent founding and lack of historical significance. Museums in the city include the Tajikistan National Museum, founded in 1934, and the Gurminj Museum of Musical Instruments, which contains Pamiri and Badakshani musical instruments.
During the Tajik SSR, the Soviet Union encouraged the development of music in Dushanbe, a less culturally crowded place then typical Russian megacities. Revolutionary songs, like the La Marseillaise, were promoted and translated into Tajik.
The Tajik Opera and Ballet Theater, whose building was named after Sadriddin Ayni and was the first opera house in Dushanbe, was founded in 1936. The first opera performed, the first in history of Tajikistan, was The Vose Uprising and detailed a peasants' revolt in eastern Bukhara in the late 19th century. One notable singer of the opera was Hanifa Mavlianova.
Another musician to come to Dushanbe during the Soviet period was Aleksandr Lensky, a Moldovan who came to Tajikistan in 1937. He was the artistic director of the Lahuti Theatre, director of the Tajik Philharmonic, and first secretary of the Tajik Union of Composers. He also composed the first Tajik opera and many orchestral pieces. Another orchestra in Dushanbe is the Opera Orchestra. The State Symphony Orchestra of Tajikistan was founded in 2016, and its first concert took place on 9 September 2016. The Tajik Opera and Ballet Theater continues operating to this day and has won the Order of Lenin. At various times the opera house performed operas on modern, historical, national, revolutionary, and heroic themes.
The Tajik Opera and Ballet Theater also had the first ballet performed in Dushanbe in 1941, entitled Two Roses, and the ballet troupe gradually grew over time. The troupe was improved with graduates from the Leningrad Choreographic School with ballet dancers such as Malika Sobirova. The theater was refitted in 2009 and continues operating to this day.
The 1920s saw the birth of drama in the city. The first, Lahouti theater, was built in 1929. In the 1930s, Soviet themes like class struggle, fighting against the past, and gender equality were prominent in plays. In 1935, the Tajik Musical Theater, now the Ayni theater, was built. A comedy troupe was created in 1944 and after the war young artists influenced plays in Dushanbe, influencing the creation of the Tajik State Youth Theater.
Continuing with a nationalist tradition, Tajik classics were made into plays. During World War 2, plays were focused on the war and historical themes from the 1950s onward. In the 70s and 80s foreign plays, like Oedipus Rex, were introduced to Dushanbe. After independence, plays focused primarily on the devastating civil war. Today, some theaters are the Tajik Academic Opera and Ballet Theater, the State Russian Drama Theater, the youth theater, the State Experimental Theater, and the republican puppet theater.
The Mayakovsky Theatre was Tajikistan's oldest theatre and last surviving Russian-language theatre company; it was demolished in 2016 as part of the government's wholesale destruction of numerous 20th-century buildings of historical and architectural interest.
Dushanbe became the center of Tajik literature in the 1920s with figures such as Sadriddin Ayni, Abolqasem Lahouti, and Payrav Sulaymoni along with new Soviet literature calling for revolution and social equality and Tajik nationalist literature. Children's books and translated works also had their beginnings in this period. In the 1930s, young Russian writers influenced the literature of the city, part of the "Komsomol generation." The themes often touched on the rapid development of Dushanbe during the 30s.
During World War 2, literature shifted towards patriotic and militaristic themes of protecting the motherland in shorter formats than novels. Messages from the frontlines and satires became popular. Russian literature also became known, partially due to the movement of factories and people from the frontlines of the war to the east. After the war, prose works and poetry, with poets like Mirzo Tursunzoda, became more popular along with the continuation of genres from previous decades. Literary criticism developed along with analysis of individual writers.
From the 1950s, the historical revolutionary genre developed, prompting authors to use history for inspiration. In the 60s the new genre of science fiction began in the city with writers like Mirsaid Mirshakar. In the 70s and 80s the themes of disorder gained more prominence, not coincidentally soon before the Soviet Union's collapse. In poetry, civic and philosophical lyrical themes were most popular. After independence, previously forbidden subjects like religion started to appear in literature, along with reflections on the civil war and a more international scene has developed in the city.
File:Dushanbe Lenin.jpg|Statue of Vladimir Lenin
File:Монумент Авицене.JPG|Statue of Avicenna
In 2003, Dushanbe hosted the Central Asian Games. The most popular sports in Dushanbe are sambo, wrestling, judo, karate, taekwondo, artistic gymnastics, weightlifting, archery, Shooting sports, boxing, Soccer, basketball, diving, tennis, chess, Buzkashi, and checkers.
Oina and Mullo Nasreddin were two of the earliest Tajik language magazines. The Zvezda Vostok magazine was published in Tajik in the early 1920s in support of the October Revolution. The first Soviet newspaper distributed in Tajikistan was Shulai Inkilob (Flame of the Revolution) as propaganda for the Soviet government in 1919. It was distributed throughout Tajikistan and was the main Tajik language newspaper that opposed the previous Emirate and was clearly in support of communism, the October Revolution, and the Bukharan Communist Party.
The first Soviet newspaper published in Tajikistan was which detailed the conditions of the Red Army in Tajikistan in 1923 during the Basmachi movement. In 1924, the newspaper Voice of the East ( or Голос Востока), the first Soviet government newspaper was published in Dushanbe and was a forum for much of the poetry and literature of the young republic. In 1925, the official newspaper of Soviet Tajikistan was "" (Awakening of the Tajiks). An Uzbek-language paper, Red Tajikistan, was published in Tajikistan as well. Sadriddin Ayni also published many newspapers such as Bukhara News, Horpustak, and Flame of the Revolution.
In 1929, the newspaper Red Tajikistan came into print with a large daily circulation of 5000. In the 1930s Komsomolets Tadzhikistana was published as a communist paper intended for the youth of Tajikistan. Many other newspapers were published during this time as well. The press often emphasized the collective farming system and the newspaper Dehkoni Kambagal was popular among farmers.
During World War 2 newspaper production was strained as raw materials became increasingly scarce and their numbers were reduced. After the war, the many newspapers from the 30s began to be produced once again. In the 60s and 70s the newspaper Communist of Tajikistan gained prominence, winning the Order of the Red Banner of Labor. International cooperation was to be emphasized during the time period.
During perestroika, newspapers embraced more liberal and democratic ideas. One of the first to do this was the Komsomol of Tajikistan. Farkhang, a new literary magazine, published national Tajik and Islamic literature banned before such as the Masnavi. The Sukhan newspaper, published by the Union of Journalists of Tajikistan, was a leading voice for liberalism and perestroika in the republic, writing about topics such as freedom of speech, democratization, and the opposition. The first publication not released by the state was from Rastokhez, printed in Lithuania and delivered to Dushanbe. The Democratic Party of Tajikistan published a paper, Justice, in Dushanbe as well which had a circulation of 25000. Charogi Ruz, or Light of Day, was the first private publication in Dushanbe, and advertised itself as the free tribune for youth. Free publications such as Oinai zindagi (by trade unions), Somon, Haftgandzh, and others formed. Today, Charogi Ruz is known for its criticism of the ruling government.
In August 1999 there were officially 199 newspapers, although only 17 of those appeared regularly. Some of the most widely circulated national government publications are Dzhumhuriet and Narodna Gazeta. In addition to the state news agency Khovar (News), there are several private newspapers, including Asia-Plus, which regularly publishes in Russian and English and reports on political, social and economic issues, Jumhuriyat, and Khalk ovozi. In 2019 there were 37 regular newspapers and 37 magazines published in the city.
In 1977, locally created radio broadcasts were able to be transmitted from Dushanbe thanks to the construction of the Radio House in the city. In 2000, the Sadoi Dushanbe Radio was created, and today that is one of the four programs broadcast in Dushanbe.
As of August 1999 government radio is broadcast throughout the nation along with independent outlets such as Asia Plus radio. Radio Liberty, the BBC, and Sadoi Khuroson are also broadcast in Tajik, although no independent radio stations were in operation.
In 2003, Dushanbe hosted the International Forum on Fresh Water which was attended by 50 states and organizations.
From 20 to 23 June 2018 the High-Level International Conference on the International Decade for Action 'Water for Sustainable Development' was held in Dushanbe, which discussed the upcoming decade for action with regards to water. A second conference on the same subject was planned to be held in June 2020.
On 16–17 May 2019 a high-level conference entitled "Countering Terrorism and its Financing Through Illicit Drug Trafficking and Organized Crime" was held in Dushanbe and attended by more than 50 countries. It passed the Dushanbe declaration, which put the primary responsibility for fighting terrorism onto national governments. Other topics, such as drug smuggling, were also discussed.
On 15 June 2019 the fifth summit of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia was held in Dushanbe. The Asian members of the organization discussed common interests on topics such as peace and security, terrorism, arms control, the Iran nuclear deal, poverty, economic development, and globalization.
Electricity
Water and sanitation
Parks
Cemeteries
Healthcare
Economy
Culture
Performing arts
Literature
Visual arts
Film
Sports
Media
Newspapers and magazines
Radio
Television
Notable people
International relations
Twin towns – sister cities
In 1982, Mary Hey and Sophia Stoller started an initiative to make Dushanbe a sister city of Boulder even though during that time they were on opposite sides of the Cold War. In 1987, the mayor of Dushanbe, Maksud Ikramov, officially made Boulder a sister city of Dushanbe. Exchange students, tourism, and art exchanges began between the two cities. The Tajik Teahouse was sent from Dushanbe to Boulder in 1990. During the civil war, Boulder sent humanitarian aid to Dushanbe.
International conferences
See also
Notes
External links
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