The State Museum of the State Cultural Center of Turkmenistan

{{Infobox museum

| name = The State Museum of the State Cultural Center of Turkmenistan

| native_name = Türkmenistanyň Döwlet Muzeýi

| native_name_lang = tk

| image = Ashgabat flagpole.jpg

| caption = The State Museum of the State Cultural Center of Turkmenistan in front of Ashgabat Flagpole

| map_type = Turkmenistan

| established = 1998

| location = Ashgabat, Turkmenistan

| type = National museum

| coordinates = {{coord|37.8851|58.3489|region:TM_type:landmark|display=inline,title}}

| website = {{URL|museum.gov.tm/en}}

}}

The State Museum of Turkmenistan (Turkmen: Türkmenistanyň Döwlet Muzeýi), also known as the Saparmurat Turkmenbashi Museum, is a museum in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan.{{Cite web|url=http://www.turkmenistan.ru/ru/node/26631|title=Национальный музей Туркменистана переименован {{!}} Интернет-газета Turkmenistan.Ru|last=|first=|date=|website=www.turkmenistan.ru}}{{cite web| title=The National Museum of Turkmenistan | url=http://www.unesco.kz/heritagenet/tm/turkmen_site/museum.htm | work=ALMATY Cluster Office for Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan| publisher=UNESCO | accessdate=6 October 2011 }} The museum was opened on 12 November 1998.Museum Guidebook, Saparamyrat Türkmenbaşy adyndaky Türkmenistanyň Milli muzeyi, Asgabat 2001. The museum has seven permanent galleries incorporating history, present day culture, and ethnography.

Collections

As of 2013, the museum was split into three sections: natural history, science, and the President of Turkmenistan. Photography is forbidden in any part of the museum, and all visitors are followed by a museum employee during their stay. Many artifacts and photographs are clear fakes or digitally edited.

=Natural History=

The museum contains a large collection of ancient artifacts. However many are overly intricate, in pristine condition, and many thousand years old leading to questions about their authenticity.{{cn|date=December 2016}}

It contains over 500,000 exhibits particularly archaeological and ethnographical finds throughout the country including rare works of ancient art, paintings, drawings, sculptures,{{cite web |title=Getty Museum and Turkmenistan's State Museum begin Cooperation to Preserve a 5th century Buddha head through the U.S. Embassy's AFCP program |url=https://tm.usembassy.gov/getty-museum-and-turkmenistans-state-museum-begin-cooperation-to-preserve-a-5th-century-buddha-head-through-the-u-s-embassys-afcp-program/ |website=U.S. Embassy in Turkmenistan |access-date=13 November 2024}} carpets, rugs, fabrics and clothing; household utensils, musical instruments, weapons, jewelry, medals, historical documents, horn-shaped vessels made of ivory, statuettes of Parthian goddesses and colourful Buddhist vases.[http://turkmenistan.orexca.com/eng/info/museums/historical.html turkmenistan.orexca.com] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070825101221/http://turkmenistan.orexca.com/eng/info/museums/historical.html|date=August 25, 2007 }}

It also contains a significant number of fossils{{cite web |last1=Chirtsova |first1=Svetlana |title=The State Museum of Turkmenistan has been replenished with new an unusual exhibit |url=https://turkmenistan.gov.tm/en/post/79062/state-museum-turkmenistan-has-been-replenished-new-unusual-exhibit |website=Turkmenistan Government |access-date=13 November 2024}} and rare geological finds.

=President=

The museum has one third of its floor space dedicated to the current President of Turkmenistan. In this section are images of the president doing a wide variety of things, including harvesting crops with his citizens, racing autos, reading with children, playing sports, and meeting world leaders.