---
title: 'Ruhnama monument in Independence Park, Ashgabat: a giant model of the book with the portrait of Saparmurat Niyazov'
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/ruhnama-monument-independence-park-ashgabat-2003/
description: Photograph of a monument shaped like a closed book, several metres high, set on a round fountain basin.
section: Collection
---

[Collection](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/)

[![Ruhnama monument in Independence Park, Ashgabat: a giant model of the book with the portrait of Saparmurat Niyazov](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/ruhnama-monument-independence-park-ashgabat-2003.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/ruhnama-monument-independence-park-ashgabat-2003.jpg)

# Ruhnama monument in Independence Park, Ashgabat: a giant model of the book with the portrait of Saparmurat Niyazov

Photograph of a monument shaped like a closed book, several metres high, set on a round fountain basin. The green cover carries a gold profile portrait, the name SAPARMYRAT TÜRKMENBAŞY above it, the title RUHNAMA and a gold bird emblem below, in a pink and silver ornamental border; a gold relief frieze runs along the base. It reproduces the cover of Niyazov's book, which was compulsory study in the country's schools.

## Text on the object

Original (Turkmen) · read from the image, not independently checked

```
SAPARMYRAT
TÜRKMENBAŞY
RUHNAMA
```

English translation (machine translation by Claude, not verified by a fluent reader)

```
Saparmyrat Türkmenbaşy [name and title, "head of the Turkmen"]
Ruhnama [the book's title, usually rendered "Book of the Soul" or "Spiritual Book"]
```

Read from a 1280 px copy; all three lines are clear. Translation is a machine translation by Claude, not verified by a fluent reader.

[← "Señores imperialistas, ¡no les tenemos absolutamente ningún miedo!": Havana billboard, 2002](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/senores-imperialistas-ningun-miedo-havana-billboard-2002/) [Mobile Production Facilities for Biological Agents (UN Security Council slide) →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/powell-un-mobile-labs-2003/)

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