State Historical and Cultural Park “Ancient Merv”

Successive cities rose side by side in the Merv oasis over 4,000 years, making this the oldest of Central Asia's great Silk Road oasis settlements — and the best preserved. Rather than rebuilding on the same ground, each era founded anew beside the last, so citadels, walls and mausoleums from the past two millennia still stand distinct across the vast site. UNESCO inscribed Ancient Merv in 1999 as Turkmenistan's first World Heritage Site.