Museums of Uzbekistan

Museums of Uzbekistan
The exposition of one of the biggest museums in Tashkent - State Museum of History of Uzbekistan - contains more than 250.000 exhibits, including the most valuable numismatic, archeological and ethnographical relics, which tell about culture and traditions of peoples, populating territory of the country, about formation and development of the state system and evolution of ethnics of the Uzbek people. Of great interest is the collection of coins from antique states, once situated on the territory of modern Uzbekistan. These are the coins of Hellenic state of Seleucids (3rd century B.C.), Graeco-Bactrian drachmas of the 3rd - 2nd centuries B.C. and coins of Kushan Kingdom that existed from the 1st century B.C. to the 2nd century A.D. Sogdian, Bucharan, Khoresmiam coins dating back to the first centuries AD are displayed next to the coins from Parthia and Sassanid kingdom, states of Yuezhi and Chang'an, Chinese coins of Tan dynasty. All of them vividly testify to strong trade connections between East and West on the crossroads of the Great Silk Road caravan trails
In the State Museum of History of Uzbekistan there are exhibited Zoroastrian ossuaries, Sogdian and Baktrian wall paintings, Buddhist sculptures, Halchayan ceramics and artifacts of the Temurid dynasty, which tell about the rich spiritual and material heritage of the Uzbek people. One section of the museum is devoted to modern history of independent Uzbekistan.
In the center of the Uzbek capital, in the building crowned with the huge blue dome, which reminds ancient domes of Samarkand structures, there was accommodated the State Museum of Temurids. The interior of the museum is faced with marble; the cupola-shaped ceiling is ornamented and decorated in the best traditions of the Uzbek art with gold leaf; the walls of the show-rooms are decorated with frescos made in the style of oriental miniature paintings, which tell about the life of Amir Temur and historical periods of the country from the ancient times to the present days. Exposition of the museum is devoted to one of the most significant periods in the history of Uzbekistan - the epoch of Temur and his descendants, the Temurids. In the second half of the 14th century - beginning of the 15th century Amir Temur united isolated principalities and created a powerful state - Movarounnahr, with capital in Samarkand. The frontiers of the huge empire stretched from the Caucuses to the western remote areas of China. During his rule many towns were built and developed, irrigational systems were constructed, sciences and arts prospered. There have preserved up to present days magnificent architectural monuments of Temurid's epoch: Bibi-Khanum mosque, Gur-Emir Mausoleum and Ulugbek Madrassah in Samarkand, Ak-Saray Palace in Shakhrisabz, Akhmad Yasavi Mausoleum in Turkistan (Kazakhstan) and many others. The reanimation of the trade at that period of time gave impetus to the further development of the Great Silk Road. Temur's victories over Turkish Sultan Bayazed and Golden Horde khan Tokhtamish were regarded by the Old World as deliverance from Asian conquerors and contemporaries called Temur the "Liberator of Europe".
Thousands of exhibits connected with the name of Sakhibkiran - carved wooden columns of the 15th century, articles of clothing, weapons, and ancient manuscripts, convey to the visitors the flavor of Temurid's epoch.
The State Fine Arts Museum of Uzbekistan is the oldest museum in the republic. In 1918 there was nationalized the collection of pieces of art that decorated the palace of great Duke Nikolay Konstantinovich who lived in Tashkent. The collection included paintings, drawings, and sculptures by western and Russian artists, decorative furniture, articles made of crystal, porcelain and bronze. All this formed the basis for the museum. At the beginning of the twenties of the last century some pieces of art were handed over to the museum from the Tretiakov Gallery, Hermitage, Russian Museum and Pushkin Art Museum, as well as from the Moscow Rumiantsev Museum, which by that time had been closed. Later the collection of museum was enriched by acquisitions from private collections.
Today the halls of the State Fine Arts Museum are adorned with the portraits by such famous Russian artists of the 18th century as F.Rokotov and D.Levitsky, the magnificent canvases by the artists of the 19th century V.Tropinin, K.Brulov, I.Ayvazovsky and I.Repin, K.Korovin, I.Levitan and K.Makovsky, the works of the founder of abstract painting V.Kandinsky. Of special interest are the paintings of one of the witnesses and "chronicler" of the capture of Turkestan by tsarist Russia - V.Vereshiagin.
The Museum has a vast collection of paintings from Italy, Spain, Germany, Flanders, England, France and Holland. The real gems of the exposition of West-European sculpture are several magnificent marble statues by A.Canova.
The section of Oriental art presents samples of medieval decorative-applied art from China, India, Iran and Japan.
Several show-rooms of the museum are assigned for the exhibits representing fine art of Uzbekistan. Here one can admire the paintings by Uzbek classical artists U.Tansykbaiev, N.Karakhan, the creator of "Pomegranate choyhona" A.Volkov, portraits by R.Ahmedov and B.Djalalov, works by R.Chariev, Ch.Ahmarov and D.Umarbekov.