Museum of Uzbekistan

Museum of Uzbekistan

One of the must-visit attractions in Tashkent for every tourist is the famous Timurids History Museum.

It was opened in 1996 in honor of the 660th anniversary of the outstanding commander Amir Timur, also known worldwide as Tamerlane.
The three-story rounded building of the Museum is framed by a dome in classic Oriental style. The interior is richly decorated with marble, unique paintings, and gold leaf. On the walls of the halls, a fresco depicts the life of Tamerlane, as well as paintings that convey the atmosphere of those times. The highlight of the Museum is a crystal chandelier with a height of 8.5 meters, which consists of 106 thousand pendants.
The Museum's exhibits tell visitors about the history of Uzbekistan during the reign of the Timurid dynasty. The Museum has more than 3 thousand exhibits. Here you can see jewelry, clothing, musical instruments, tools and other items of the middle ages. A copy of the Osman Koran, the Holy book of Muslims, is kept in the Central hall.
In the Museum you can also see numerous correspondence of Tamerlane and his descendants with the monarchs of European countries, paintings depicting the great commander, various miniatures and models of famous monuments built in our country by the Timurid dynasty.
The State Museum of History
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Located in the center of Tashkent, the State Museum of history of Uzbekistan is one of the first museums in Central Asia. Opened since 1876.

The Museum displays more than 250 thousand old objects, finds and artifacts that allow you to learn the history of the peoples of Central Asia who inhabited the territory of Uzbekistan, from the Stone age to the present day.

Here you can find a statue of the Buddha of the I century, found in the Surkhandarya region, a bronze Saka goat (IV-V centuries BC), decorated with animal figurines, ancient ceramics, fabrics, coins, works of art, historical documents, photographic materials and other exhibits that allow Museum visitors to get acquainted with the ancient civilizations of the East and learn the most important epochs of the history of our region.

Tashkent is one of the oldest cities in Uzbekistan, which is more than 2200 years old.

Located at the busy crossroads of the Great Silk Road, Tashkent for many centuries was the largest center of science, culture and education. Many people known to the world lived here: rulers, scientists, prominent figures of culture and art, writers, poets, artists.

Today the capital is developing and becoming one of the most important and prosperous cities in Central Asia. Until now, not a single museum has been dedicated to Tashkent.

And so, in January 2020, after the visit of President Mirziyoyev to the Alisher Navoi Park, now the Alley of Writers of Uzbekistan, a decree was received to organize the Museum of Tashkent here.

The new museum is located in the park, in the building of the former Exhibition Hall of Culture and Arts. The famous Alley of Writers of Uzbekistan is located nearby.

The museum displays the past, customs and traditions of the Tashkent people, examples of art and culture of the ancient region.

On the first floor there are sections "Tashkent - the center of science", "Tashkent - the city of tolerance", "Applied art". On the second floor "Everyday life and culture" - objects of labor and everyday life of antiquity, models of attractions.

The museum contains more than a thousand antiques; the fund is replenished with new exhibits every day.

Established in 1934, the Surkhandarya regional Museum of local lore has a library of 14 thousand works containing historical works of Termez scientists, ethnography, fine art, folk art, nature of the region and much more.
More than 60 thousand exhibits telling about the rich heritage of the region are presented in the Museum. Among them are tools, jewelry, minted coins, figurines, art objects, clay products and much more.
Everywhere the Museum takes part in various international exhibitions, cooperates with scientific organizations and publishes scientific works.
Address: Termez, 1 Festivalnaya street
Through the thorns to the Stars. Ulugbek Observatory
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Could the great scientist of the XV century, the grandson of Tamerlane, Ulugbek (1394 - 1449) have predicted that his numerous works and research would have a significant impact on the development of world science in many centuries? The achievements of Ulugbek's astronomical school had a huge impact on the development of exact sciences in the West and East, India and China.

In 1428-1429, one of the world's most significant observatories of the Middle ages was built near Samarkand, Ulugbek. According to the scheme, the Observatory was a round three-story building with a diameter of 46.4 m and a height of at least 30 m.it contained a marble quadrant. Major astronomers, students of Ulugbek, Ali-Kushchi and Kazi-zade ar-Rumi worked at the Ulugbek Observatory.

Among the numerous astronomical studies of Ulugbek conducted at this Observatory, of great interest is the priceless work Gurgan Zij – a famous Catalog of the Stars, consisting of a description of 1018 stars. The length of the star year was determined by Ulugbek to be 365 days, 6 hours, 10 minutes, and 8 seconds. Surprisingly, the observations of Samarkand astronomers were conducted without optical instruments, but only with the naked eye. According to research by scientists, the Observatory had other instruments that, unfortunately, have not been preserved.
The first in the history of astronomy catalog of stars was made by the great astronomer of antiquity Hipparchus, who lived in the II century BC. the Catalog of this scientist contains the coordinates of about a thousand stars; it is placed in the work of the famous ancient Greek scientist Ptolemy "Almagest"(the full name of this treatise" Great mathematical construction of astronomy in 13 books"), dated about 140 ad.
The work carried out at the Ulugbek Observatory is the first complete re – observation of stars from the Hipparchus–Ptolemy catalog 16 centuries after its creation. The Ulugbek catalog contains almost exactly the same stars as the Ptolemaic one, but the coordinates are given with higher accuracy. In fact, Ulugbek became the second (after Hipparchus) astronomer who compiled a fundamental (based on his own observations) catalog of stars.
To create a catalog of stars, you need to make a huge effort, you need to work diligently and hard for many years. Star catalogues are very valuable for science. They give an idea of the distribution of stars in the sky in different epochs. They are also material for studying the movements of celestial bodies.

The Ulugbek star catalog became known to European astronomers after its publication in 1648 — where the main work performed at the Ulugbek Observatory in Samarkand was partially published for the first time. The work was prepared for publication and commented on by John Greaves (1602-1652), professor of astronomy at the University of Oxford. Later, the fragments of the catalogue was published in England a number of times.

In the "Catalog of the starry sky", published by the Polish astronomer Jan Hevelij, there is a unique engraving depicting a symbolic collection of the world's greatest astronomers who lived in different countries at different times. They are seated at a table, flanked by Urania, the Muse of astronomy. Ulugbek is also depicted among them.
17 years after the first Oxford publication, the learned curator of the Bodleian library in Oxford, English orientalist and translator Thomas Hyde (1636-1703) prepared and printed in Persian and Latin a new edition of the Samarkand catalog called "Tabulae Long, AC Lat. Stellarum Fixarum, ex observatione Ulugh Beighi», Oxonii, 1665.
German astronomer and lunar mapmaker Johann Heinrich von Medler named the lunar crater Ulugbek in honor of Ulugbek, mapped on his 1830 lunar map.
The most detailed analysis of the Ulugbek star catalog, based on the study of 8 manuscripts stored in libraries in Great Britain, was published in the United States in 1917 by E. B. Knoblem under the title " Ulugh Beg's Catalog of Stars. Revised from all Persian Manuscripts Existing in Great Britain».
The main instrument of the Samarkand Observatory is a marble wall quadrant with an arc radius of 40.2 m and an arc length of 63 m.
Most of this huge angle-measuring instrument is located underground, under the floor of the Observatory - to a depth of more than 10 meters. The second half of the quadrant rose 28 meters above the ground and most likely rested on a rectangular tower, which has not survived to this day.
Set in the direction from South to North, that is, in the plane of the Meridian, this quadrant was used to determine the heights of the Sun, moon, and planets above the horizon at the time of their passage through the celestial Meridian, as well as to measure the angular distance between the luminaries and to observe bright stars.
The large size of the scale made it possible to make observations with very high accuracy, in particular, it was possible to determine the coordinates of the Sun with an error of only 1 angular second. The minutes and seconds of the arc were counted on an auxiliary scale. Along the marble barriers were built brick stairs leading to the depth of the hill.
Time was merciless in relation to the unique monument of science. The Ulugbek Observatory was gradually destroyed and at the end of the XVII century was dismantled into bricks.
In 1908 and 1914, during excavations in the Samarkand region under the leadership of the Russian and Samarkand scientist V. L. Vyatkin, the location of the Observatory and part of the main instrument were discovered. But these excavations did not give the expected results. The find turned out to be only a remnant of the outer wall of a huge three-story building.
The research of the Observatory was successfully continued by academician M. E. Masson in 1941, and V. A. Shishkin in 1948.
The history of Uzbekistan remembers many events: the seizure of lands, bloody feuds, fall and growth, but one thing remains unchanged - the memory about people. About people who became victims of their time.
You will know about the unique “Museum of Victims of Repressions”. The museum was created in November 2002 to tell the modern generation about the ancestors who called the nation for freedom, who showed heroism in the struggle for freedom and independence of the Motherland and who became victims of massive political repression during the period of the totalitarian regime.
According to the «Shahidlar Hotirasi» (Victims of Repressions) Foundation, 10,700 people were arrested and convicted on the territory of modern Uzbekistan in September 1937. Of these, 3,613 were sentenced to death, and 7,087 were sentenced to 8 to 10 years in labor camps. In the period from 13 to 28 November, 1,611 people were convicted, and in December 1937 the number of convicts was 3,610. Among the victims were prominent figures, scientists and writers, among whom were Abdullah Qadiri, Fitrat, Chulpon.
The museum is an adornment of the «Shahidlar Khieboni» Park, located in the Yunusabad district of Tashkent.
The history of Uzbekistan remembers many events: the seizure of lands, bloody feuds, fall and growth, but one thing remains unchanged - the memory about people. About people who became victims of their time.
You will know about the unique “Museum of Victims of Repressions”. The museum was created in November 2002 to tell the modern generation about the ancestors who called the nation for freedom, who showed heroism in the struggle for freedom and independence of the Motherland and who became victims of massive political repression during the period of the totalitarian regime.
According to the «Shahidlar Hotirasi» (Victims of Repressions) Foundation, 10,700 people were arrested and convicted on the territory of modern Uzbekistan in September 1937. Of these, 3,613 were sentenced to death, and 7,087 were sentenced to 8 to 10 years in labor camps. In the period from 13 to 28 November, 1,611 people were convicted, and in December 1937 the number of convicts was 3,610. Among the victims were prominent figures, scientists and writers, among whom were Abdullah Qadiri, Fitrat, Chulpon.
The museum is an adornment of the «Shahidlar Khieboni» Park, located in the Yunusabad district of Tashkent.
The exposition of the museum includes 10 sections:
1) Colonization of Central Asia (Turkestan) by Tsarist Russia and the struggle of the local population.
2) The movement of national revival, its manifestations and practical directions. Jadidism in Uzbekistan.
3) Liquidation of Turkestan Autonomy and the beginning of the repressive policy of the Soviet state (1917-1924).
4) The movement of resisting oppression and violence. Armed uprisings in Central Asia (1918-1924).
5) The policy of "collectivization" and "dispossession" of the Soviet government, and its tragic consequences (1930-1936).
6) Political repressions in the early 30s (1929-1936).
7) Political repressions of the 1937-1938s.
8) Political repression of the 1940s-1950s.
9) The Repression of the 1980s: «Uzbek cotton affair»
10) Restoration of historical justice, perpetuation of the memory of victims of repressions, important historical events aimed at preserving and developing national values during the years of Independence (since 1991)