Dushanbe Postal code

About Dushanbe

Dushanbe is Tajikistan's capital and biggest city. Dushanbe has a population of 863,400 residents as of January 2020, the majority of whom were Tajik. Until 1929, the city was called Dyushambe (Russian: аме, Dyushambe), then from 1929 until 1961, Stalinabad (Tajik: талинoод, Stalinobod), in honour of Joseph Stalin. Dushanbe is situated in the Gissar Valley, surrounded on the north and east by the Gissar Range and on the south by the Babatag, Aktau, Rangontau, and Karatau ranges, at a height of 750–930 m. The city is organised into four districts, all of which have the names of historical figures: Ismail Samani, Avicenna, Ferdowsi, and Shah Mansur.

Ancient Dushanbe was populated by a variety of empires and peoples, including Mousterian tool users, numerous neolithic civilizations, the Achaemenid Empire, Greco-Bactria, the Kushan Empire, and the Hephthalites. During the Middle Ages, further villages such as Hulbuk and its famed palace arose near modern-day Dushanbe. Between the 17th and early 20th centuries, Dushanbe developed into a market village ruled at various times by the Beg of Hisor, Balkh, and lastly Bukhara. Soon after the Russian invasion in 1922, Dushanbe was named the capital of the Tajik Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic in 1924, initiating the town's development and fast population expansion that lasted until the Tajik Civil War. Following the war, the city became the capital of an independent Tajikistan and proceeded to expand and develop into a modern metropolis that is now the site of several international conferences.

Dushanbe's contemporary culture emerged in the 1920s, with the establishment of Soviet music, opera, theatre, sculpture, cinema, and sports. Prior to the Soviet takeover, music, mainly shashmaqam, flourished in the city, owing to Russian influence and local opera houses and orchestras. Tajik intellectuals such as Sadriddin Ayni made significant contributions to the growth of Dushanbe's literature, which underwent several transformations during and after the Soviet era. Both theatre and cinema emerged in the 1930s, largely inspired by Soviet tendencies. Dushanbe's architecture, formerly neoclassical, evolved into a minimalist and finally contemporary style. The city is a hub for the country's newspapers, radio stations, and television stations, running around 200 newspapers and more than a dozen television studios in 1999.

Much of Dushanbe's education system comes from the Soviet era and is characterised by state supervision; nowadays, the Tajik National Institution, the city's major university, is supported by the government. Dushanbe International Airport is the city's major airport. Other modes of travel include the 1955 trolleybus system, the tiny rail system, and the city's highways. Dushanbe's power is mostly hydroelectric, generated by the Nurek Dam, while the city's ancient water infrastructure goes all the way back to 1932. Tajikistan's healthcare system is centred on Dushanbe, which means that the country's largest hospitals are located there. The city contributes 20% of Tajikistan's GDP and is home to significant industrial, financial, retail, and tourist industries. Victory Park, Rudaki Park, the Tajikistan National Museum, the Dushanbe Flagpole, and the Tajikistan National Museum of Antiquities are among the city's parks and major attractions.