Next to the mosque is the mausoleum of the late President Niyazov (nicknamed Turkmenbashi the Great) and his family.
His father died in World War II, and his mother and two brothers died in the great earthquake of 1948.
Niyazov grew up in an orphanage and later with relatives. He studied in St. Petersburg and joined the Communist Party in 1962.
He began his party career in 1967, and in 1985 he was appointed President of the Council of Ministers of the Turkmen SSR in Moscow. He became President of the Turkmen Soviet Republic in October 1990 and retained this position even after independence in October 1991.
He died on December 21, 2006, and was buried in the mausoleum specially built for him and his family in his hometown of Kipchak.