These are wonderful photos from Nancy Rash’s recent trip to Tajikistan. Her explanations are under each set of photos.

This is the 2nd hall at the Complex Kohi Navruz in Dushanbe, Tajikistan. All of the blue is made of lapis lazuli, even the blue columns. The onyx in the small columns have a light behind them so that they glow. 4,000 artisans were employed to do the building, carving, cutting, painting and other tasks to bring this beautiful building to life.

We had another long drive yesterday on our way to Dushanbe, Tajikistan. We drove over the mountains and arrived at our hotel after a 10 1/2 hour trip. We stopped along the way of course.

This shows the topography of Tajikistan. The country consists of 93% mountains and only 7% of arable land. When the USSR collapsed, most of the industrial plants closed down from lack of money. The mountains have gold, coal, turquoise, pink rubies and other gems but it’s hard to mine.