Nestled between the Kopet Dag range and the Kara Kum desert, Ashgabat is a flat, sometimes dusty city twinkling with unique architecture. As a marker of Turkmenistan's official neutrality, the city's most recognizable monument, the Neutrality Arch, rotates during the daylight hours, facing the sun throughout the entire day. The city is home to many mosques and markets, as well as important museums, including one memorializing the 1948 earthquake that decimated the population.