AFROSYAB MUSEUM
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Located near the archaeological site where the main finds on display in the museum were unearthed. Numerous excavations have taken place here since the Russian conquest. Period photos retrace the history of the excavations carried out on the Afrosyab hill, revealing the city's first settlements and foundations.
The museum'scenterpiece is a 7th-century fresco known as "The Ambassadors". A unique work of art, and one of the few available to archaeologists and historians for the study of Sogdian art and painting. On the four walls of a house discovered by chance in 1965, when the municipality was drilling a new road, this major fresco depicts the Sogdian king Vakhurman receiving ambassadors from neighboring countries. China, for example, is represented on the north wall. The emperor is shown hunting and the empress on a boat. The south wall shows Samarkand celebrating Navrouz, and the east wall depicts India, its pygmies and astrologers. For the moment, archaeologists and specialists are not in complete agreement on the theme of the west wall. Their hypotheses are still being debated. This fresco of major importance was, in places, badly deteriorated. In 2014, France decided to finance the restoration work, under the direction of French teams. The work took more than eight years to complete. While in Tashkent, a copy can be seen at the People's Museum of Uzbekistan.
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