The Baháʼí Faith in Turkmenistan begins before Russian advances into the region when the area was under the influence of Persia.[9] By 1887 a community of Baháʼí refugees from religious violence in Persia had made a religious center in Ashgabat.[9] Shortly afterwards — by 1894 — Russia made Turkmenistan part of the Russian Empire.[10] While the Baháʼí Faith spread across the Russian Empire[10][11] and attracted the attention of scholars and artists,[12] the Baháʼí community in Ashgabat built the first Baháʼí House of Worship, elected one of the first Baháʼí local administrative institutions and was a center of scholarship.