The best museums Tashkent

The former palace of the diplomat Alexander Polovtsev was turned into a museum in 1938. Of the 24 original parts, only a dozen remain, of which only some have been restored. The reception room and the small lounge in an eclectic oriental style deserve a visit. The architectural ensemble is reminiscent of a mosque, with an iwan and an inner courtyard, the reception hall even having a mihrab indicating the direction of Mecca. A quote from Umar Khayyam - "The world is a palace with two doors, through one you enter, through the other you leave. " - adorns one of the doors of the great hall with walls entirely covered with painted stucco. Carved wooden columns support an impressive painted wooden ceiling. The central fountain was unfortunately covered with marble a few years ago. Just behind it, the small salon where the hookah was smoked has also suffered from the restoration. In the exhibition rooms you will see suzani (embroidered drapes) from different periods, tioupé (embroidered caps) in the first room, pottery and ceramics in the second room, wood carvings, musical instruments and jewellery mostly from the 20th century. At the end of the route, you can linger at the souvenir shop which offers beautiful local handicrafts. There is also a small café in the courtyard for a hot drink or refreshment at the end of the visit.

The museum presents the evolution of the Uzbek Olympic Committee since 1992 and houses some sports treasures. Of course, Uzbekistan is not a great Olympic nation. However, the Uzbek government attaches particular importance to sport, as evidenced by the many stadiums and sports facilities built since independence. You can enjoy a walk along the Ankhor Canal to admire the facade. The museum café offers a pleasant moment on the canal.

It brings together copies of 15th and 16th century manuscripts of the poet Alisher Navoi (1441-1501) and other Central Asian poets. There will also be beautiful antique miniatures, murals illustrating the life of the poet and the Timurids, as well as a complete representation of the Ulugh Begh Observatory. The museum deserves to be a little airy and renovated, but it is still interesting for some of the rooms and can be visited in the old-fashioned way, with the attendants checking the ticket in each room and then turning on the lights?

The former Lenin Museum became the Museum of the History of the Peoples of Uzbekistan in 1995. The very Soviet structure hosts more than 2,000^m2 of a fascinating collection that will delight lovers of prehistory, but also of ancient, medieval or contemporary history.

The visit begins with the rooms devoted to the Stone Age, with the results of numerous excavations carried out throughout the country. One can in particular linger on the reconstituted face of a Neanderthal child, discovered in the 1940s in Teshik Tash, in Sourkhan Daria, by the Soviet archaeologist Gerasimov. This is followed by some reconstructions of scenes of life at that time, based on the excavations of the two oldest sites uncovered in Uzbekistan: Djarkutan (^19th century B.C.) and Sapalli Tepe (^17th century B.C.), both located in the province of Sourkhan Daria. Moving forward in time, we then move on to a reconstruction of the Zoroastrian temple of Qoy Qirilgan, particularly interesting for those who have visited its ruins in the Khorezm. It is estimated today that the region could have been the birthplace of this religion. A large space is then devoted to the conquests of Alexander the Great in Central Asia. The Greek emperor built no less than five Alexandria in the region, the last of which was at the extreme limit of his empire, in Khodjent, in present-day Tajikistan.

The results of the excavations at Kok Tepe, one of the largest archaeological sites in Uzbekistan and the second capital of Sogdiana after Samarkand, will also be detailed. In particular, the burial site of a Saka princess was found there, as well as a large quantity of ornaments and gold buttons. You will also see the treasures discovered in Kara Tepe and Fayaz Tepe, the Buddhist sites near Termez. The gold and ceramic Buddhas give an idea of the splendor that reigned in these sacred monasteries in the ^first century.

After the exhibition devoted to the Kushan period, the visitor cannot but be fascinated by the great fresco of Varakhsha, uncovered on the historical site of Samarkand, representing a Sogdian prince mounted on a white elephant, attacked by two leopards during a hunting party. The Afrosyab Museum in Samarkand has a copy of this piece, but it is the original.

Next are the departments devoted to the two golden ages of Uzbekistan: the Samanid period and the Timurid period. There are exhibits dedicated to the great scholars of the time: the poet Alisher Navoi, the mathematician Al-Khorezmi, the philosopher Al-Termezi, the astronomers Ulugh Begh and Al-Ferghani. The architecture is not left out with models presenting reconstructions of buildings like a splendid model of the Bibi Khanum mosque in Samarkand.

The second floor of the museum is devoted to the Russian invasion and Uzbekistan's war efforts to help its big brother Russia in its "great patriotic war", the name given to the Second World War.

The exhibition ends on the contemporary period, with some photos of the attacks perpetrated in Tashkent by the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan in 1999-2000, and photographs of the main technical, industrial or political achievements of Uzbekistan since independence. It is the propaganda part, common to all the country's museums, that we pass quickly enough.

The Tashkent Museum of Fine Arts is the largest museum in the city, and certainly the most interesting. Entirely renovated between 2019 and 2021, it exhibits extraordinary collections, including the particularly rich collection of Grand Duke Nicholas Constantinovich Romanov who lived in Tashkent at the beginning of the last century. Exiled because of his less than exemplary conduct, the kleptomaniac cousin of the Tsar is said to have "borrowed" some pieces from the collection of his illustrious cousin, including crown jewels. It is one of the five largest art museums in the CIS and will delight all those who wish to learn or sharpen their knowledge of Uzbek, Central Asian and Russian art.

Five floors await you, each with dozens of pieces in chronological order. One goes from the first ancient potteries to contemporary Uzbek art, passing by nomadic craftsmanship or Soviet realism. Entire rooms are also devoted to pieces acquired by the museum, founded in 1918: Asian collections, particularly Japanese, Chinese and Korean, mainly composed of porcelain.

The painting galleries are particularly rich, with paintings from the ^eighteenth, ^nineteenth and ^twentieth centuries from donations made by Moscow at the very beginning of the Soviet period in gratitude for the efforts made by Uzbekistan in the Aral Sea to save the USSR from famine.

There are three or four temporary exhibitions per year, of high quality, featuring the work of international artists.

Dedicated to the Timurid era and its historical legacy, the Amur Timur Museum opened its doors in 1996, on the occasion of the 660th anniversary of the birth of the great emperor. According to the curator, its architecture is inspired by the Gur Emir of Samarkand, but there is room for doubt... One would rather recognize Tamerlan's crown. The museum possesses some interesting pieces, such as a huge Koran dating from the 7th century, but it is mainly the replicas of Uzbekistan's monuments that attract attention. The Bibi Khanum Mosque and the Gur Emir are reproduced in their original state, which, when you visit the museum at the end of your stay, allows a good comparison with what you will have seen during your stay. A model of the Taj Mahal, built on the order of Babur's grandson, the last of the Timurids chased by the Uzbeks and left to create a new empire in India, by architects from Bukhara, also allows you to compare styles and make comparisons. As can be seen in the paintings exhibited on the second floor, the cult of Tamerlan doubles as that of Uzbekistan, glorified through its national hero and its inescapable president Islam Karimov. These paintings by contemporary artists are extremely poor in style but interesting because they show that the concept of Soviet-style propaganda is far from having disappeared with the collapse of the USSR, and that Uzbekistan under Karimov was certainly one of its best pupils!