Tashkent Things to Do Tips by nepalgoods

The Old Town of Tashkent has been destroyed in the Russian Revolution in 1916/17 and during the big earthquake of 1966. In the last years big efforts are taken to reconstruct and renovate the old buildings.

In new glamour there can be seen some fine mosques and medresses. Medrese Kukaldasch, Medrese Barak Khan, Mausoleum Kaffal Schaschi and more. I will show them in the next tips.

The center of the Old Town is its big bazaar. Worth a visit!

Leave a Comment

The Medrese Kukaldash is not far from the big bazaar. It was first build in 1420, then finally completed in the 16th ccentury.

The Medrese is named after Kukeadash, who was a vizier, a scientist and a poet. The Medrese is under the authority of the Religious Board of Mawarannahr Moslems, and at present it is a regularly acting mosque. There is a primary school, which teaches the basis of Islam.

It shows some old fassades. Next to the Medrese Kukaldasch is the Dschuma Mosque, which cannot be missed because of its modern silvern looking cupolas.

Leave a Comment

Directions: Near the Bazaar in the Old Town, above the Nawai Prospekt, a busy road.

The bazaar of Tashkent is very big. It is bigger and more interesting than any bazaar I saw in Bukhara or Samarkand. Here you can find the wealth of Silkroad with vegetables and fruits form all over Centralasia. A big hall is only for selling spices. The bazaar has the smells, the noices and the colors of the Orient. People form all over Centralasia come together here: Usbek, Kyrkyse, Russians, Turkmen, Tatar, Tadjik (I do not know the correct English spelling!) I love to dive into the masses and see the women buying things and the peddlars discussing the prices. And this is the place to do that!

BTW: have a look on the pic of the cradles: they look very much like the ones I saw in Kashgar (see my pic there).

Leave a Comment

The Medrese Barak Khan was build in the 16th century. It is located in the north of the Old Town, which is still pretty much complete an doriginal in this part. The Medrese was renovated and looks very nice and beautiful.

It houses now the Administration of the Uzbek Muslims. Its main attraction is the hall, where the Koran of Uthman, the 3rd Kalif, is shown. This Koran is from the 8th century and one of the oldest Korans known. This place is holy for the Muslims. When you enter the buildings you have to take off your shows. The atmosphere is very solemn. There is a guard, who can get very angry, when you are loud or laugh inside the hall.

In Wikipedia I found this discription:
" Telyashayakh Mosque (Khast Imam Mosque)
Contains the Uthman Qur'an, considered to be the oldest extant Qur'an in the world. Dating from 655 and stained with the blood of murdered caliph Uthman, it was brought by Timur to Samarkand, seized by the Russians as a war trophy and taken to Saint Petersburg. It was returned to Uzbekistan in 1989."

I am a bit confused by the different names, but I think, that the Mosque is part of the Medrese Barak Khan. That is, what is said in my guidebook.

I was very impressed by the atmosphere and by the big Koran with its fine script.

Leave a Comment

Actually I did not find much about this square. It is the square in front of Medrese Barak Khan. In a way I am a bit confused: there is a big complex of a mosque and other oriental style buildings to the rigth of this medrese and there is another one opposite. I do not know, which one is the famous Mausoleum Kaffal Schaschi. At least the buildings I took the fotographs of do not look like the pics of Mausoleum Kaffal Schaschi in my guidebook.

Mausoleum Kaffal Schaschi has been build in the beginning of the 16th century. It is a religious center of Islam in Tashkent with an Islamic University.

The square has been cleared from old adobe houses of the old town in the last years to give a better impression of the old mosques and buildings. It is a very beautiful square now. But during the heat of noon it looks very empty and a bit like an open air museum.

Leave a Comment

Many of the old mosques in the old town and other buildings are now rebuild and renovated. Everywhere you can see constructions works going on.

The third picture shows the way the walls of the ordinary adobe houses were build: the beams are not straight. This is to guide away the forces of an earthsquake and makes the wall more stabil.

Leave a Comment

This small but very interesting museum is sometimes mixed up with the big Museum of Art. The Museum of Applied Art is in the former residence of the Russian Diplomat A.A. Polowzew in a part of Tashkent, where many consulates and residences of foreign diplomats are. Narrow streets with old trees and the high fences of the villas are typical for this area.

The residence was build in the beginning of the 20th century. The diplomat never really lived in it. It became the Museum for Applied Art in 1938. The buildings in a mixed Uzbek/Russian style are groped around a nice courtyard. The wall s of the rooms are decorated with colourful paintings and stucco. The exhibition show some of the old interior of the villa and many folk art, ceramics, silk, embroidery and carpets.

If you go there early in the morning or in the afternoon, the museum is a nice and quiet escape form hustle of the big city.

Opening hours:
Wednesday to Monday 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. (except national holidays),
Admission:
1200 som and additional 600 som for taking pictures (all valid for 1 day).

Leave a Comment

Address: Rakhatboshi 15, Tashkent
Directions: Take the metro to Kosmonavtlar (red line)

This hall was built in 1981 specially for holding concerts and other festive events. It shows the typical Russian architecture of the 80s. After recent repairs and improvement the hall has a capacity to accommodate up to 3900 people. “Drujhba narodov” hall hosts performances of national musical variety actors, concert tours of foreign musical groups and single performers, as well as various festivals and contests.

The building dominates the nice Friendship Square. In front of it there is a Memorial to a blacksmith named Sham Akhmudov and his wife who adopted 15 war orphans of different nationalities. Uzbek people are very proud of this family and made him a national hero.

On the other side there is a memorial of Alisher Navoi:
"Mind, ye peoples of the Earth,
Enmity is an evil state.
Live in friendship,
one and all -
Man can have no kinder fate."

Alisher Navoi, great Uzbek poet and humanistAlisher Navoi (1441-1501)-one of the greatest poets of the Medieval East, the author of many lyrical poems, gazelles, prose work, scientific treatises, the founder of Uzbek literature and the statesman-vizier (the minister in the court of the Sultan Husain Mirzo Boiqaro), the patron of scientists, painters and craftsmen. By his order, hospitals, madrassah, and bath houses were created.

The promenade and the square are favourite meeting and leisure places for the locals. It is easy to find somebody to talk to, as many of the young people now speak English and have fun to try it on foreigners.

Leave a Comment

"The lines of the Tashkent underground - the only underground in Central Asia - stretch on 47 km, and by the richness of the marble decoration of the stations, they are considered to be the most beautiful in the world." That is written on an Uzbek Internet-Page. Maybe they have not seen the metro of Moscow. But anyway: it is the beautiful heritage of Russian times, that the stations of the Tashkent underground are beautifully decorated.

Construction of Tashkent undeground started in 1973. The first part of Chilanzar line (from Sabir Rakhimov station to Amir Timur station) with 9 stations was put into operation on November 6, 1977.

Unfortunately it if prohibited to take pics of the stations. I only saw the station near some military ministery,. The station was full of soldiers and police watching everybody carefully. NO chance to take a pic!

Leave a Comment

Buildings of distinct Russian style from the 70s and 80s dominate the new part of the city. Some say they are ugly. But are they? When I compare it with the boring and plain fassades of German architecture of that time I see, that many of the Russian buildings in Tashkent show an interesting design and some beauty.

With the Russians also came wide streets with parks and many trees. Tashkent is said to be one of the greenest cities in Central Asia.

There are parts of Tashkent, where you find the Russian architecture of the 19th century. But most has been destroyed during the earthquake. Now there are also modern highrises build with glas fassades reaching into heaven.

Leave a Comment