Dushanbe Flagpole

It was opened for the Shanghai summit, a new park on Rudaki Avenue that has a huge statue of Rudaki, a new government palace, and enough fountains to drain the whole of Dushanbe. Go at night to see the lights.

A monument to the 10th-century founder of the Samanid dynasty. This statue commemorates the one after whom the currency is named. Apparently, the crown is 10 kg of Tajik gold. Beware: the police at the bottom may ask for money if you take photos, so stand far back and use your zoom. (And don't encourage this bad behaviour.)

This small museum has an interesting variety of Central Asian musical instruments as string instruments example: rubab, Pamiri rubab, tanbur, dutor, setor, qashqar, and ghizhak. There are also number of drums such as tabl, daf, and doyra. That alone is worth a peek if you like instruments, but better still is to go when a musical or cultural event is being held, or hope to catch the folk musicians who practice there and can demo many of the instruments in the collection.

The number of animals kept is about 600 on the area: 67000 m². This is the only institution of this kind in the country. Animals are indigenous and foreign species, with the most exotic being lion, jaguar and snow leopard. The local fauna are represented by brown bears, black bears, Bactrian camel, donkey, wolf, jackal, fox, raccoon, and some birds such as owl, vulture, golden eagle, falcon. Also some reptiles, including snakes, caymans, lizards are displayed indoors.