Ismaili Centre, Dushanbe Ismaili Centre, Dushanbe The Ismaili Centre, Dushanbe is one of six such centres world-wide and is an Ismaili jamatkhana. It was the fifth purpose-built Ismaili Centre, and the first in Central Asia. Dushanbe is the capital of Tajikistan, a country characterised by an unusually extensive Ismaili population: the region of Badakhshan, which spills over northeastern Afghanistan, eastern Tajikistan and North Pakistan, is the only part of the world where Ismailis make up the majority of the population. Under Soviet rule, the religion was discouraged, but since 1991 has increased its public prominence, and the Personal Representative of the Ismaili imamate
Emblem of the Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic Emblem of the Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic The emblem of the Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic () was adopted in 1940 by the government of the Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic. The emblem was designed by Vsevolodas Dobužinskis based on the State Emblem of the Soviet Union. The new coat of arms replaced the traditional coat of arms of Lithuania, known as Vytis, which was restored when Lithuania declared its independence in 1990. The emblem is an example of so-called "socialist heraldry". It featured symbols of agriculture (oak branches and wheat). The rising sun stood for the future of the Lithuanian nation,