TAJIKISTAN

TAJIKISTAN / ТОҶИКИСТОН.

Mountains and glaciers.
Ismoil Somoni Peak (Қуллаи Исмоили Сомонӣ).
Second stamp in a set of 2, issued in minisheet on 14.09.2009.
Face value: 4 Tajikistani somoni.
Printing: Offset tipogaphy.
Size: 52 x 29.6 mm.

Catalogues
- Michel No. 542 / BL55.
- StampWorld No. 544.
- Stanley Gibbons No. MS 404.

Ismoil Somoni Peak (in Tajik: Қуллаи Исмоили Сомонӣ), 7,495 m (24,590 ft), located in the Pamir Range, is the highest mountain in Tajikistan. It was also the highest mountain in the Russian Empire and Soviet Union before Tajikistan became independent. In 1933 the Soviet Academy of Sciences named it Stalin Peak (in Russian, Пик Стaлина), after Joseph Stalin. In 1962, as part of Khrushchev's nationwide de-Stalinization process, the name was changed to Communism Peak (in Tajik, Пики Коммунизм), que en 1988 was officially dropped in favour of the current name, commemorating the 9th-10th century Samanid emir, Ismail Samani. The first ascent (to the then Stalin Peak) was made September 3, 1933 by the Soviet mountaineer Yevgeniy Abalakov.