Near Dushanbe. Tajikistan

Dushanbe (Tajik: Душанбе, Persian: دوشنبه‎‎) is the capital and largest city ofTajikistan. Dushanbe means Monday in the Persian language. It was so named because it grew from a village that originally had a popular market on Mondays. Until 1929, the city was known in Russian as Dyushambe (Russian:Дюшамбе), and from 1929 to 1961 as Stalinabad (Tajik: Сталинобод, Persian:استالین‌آباد‎‎). As of 2014, Dushanbe has a population of 778,500.