26 OCTOBER 2018 – Major 20th Century Buildings in Tashkent’s Urban Downtown Districts
Our time in Uzbekistan is getting much too short…… and I have images yet to share. And I know that life will flow forward when we arrive in Lexington, KY this weekend. Thus my strategy is to provide a few remaining glimpses into aspects of our life & experiences in Tashkent that hold some observations I want to share. Any repetition is due to new insights, not necessarily verbalized in these postings but perhaps observed by others following this unfolding process.
Soviet-era Building previously proposed to become Hotel (below) – Currently stands empty for which I do not know why. And I do not know what its original use was. The street-level forms (not visible in these images unfortuantely) provide a potentially engaging pedestrian scale entrance.
Hotel Uzbekistan (left) & Palace of International Forums (right below) –
Defining Edge of Reflecting Pools along Independence Square (below) –
Alisher Navoi Opera& Ballet Building (below) – The national opera theatre of Tashkent, this building was built 1942-47, opening in 1947 to celebrate the 500th anniversary of Alisher Navoi. During the years 1945-47, Japanese preisoners of war completed the construction under forced labor.
Alisher Navoi Park & Memorial looking toward the Palace of Arts Concert Hall (below) – Another stunning Soviet-era 20th Century Modern building opened around 1980 and recently renovated. Lattice-like facade regulates light into the building. Made of concrete, these forms follow a rigid geometric pattern of isosceles triangles.
Layers of Texture on the facades of Soviet-era Buildings (below) – These lattice patterns created sun-shading for the building occupants though it is difficult to determine if the depth of the Right Building facade is adequate to accomplish this.
Parks & Public Space (below) – In the Left image are the book stalls, filled with old and new books of every description imaginable located in a public park that is experiencing major renovations & upgrades now. In the Right image is a very large metal sculpture in the walking zine between the Amir Timur Park and Independence Square.
Museum of History (below) – Constructed in 1970 by the Soviets following the earthquake of 1966, this museum building is one of the leading monuments of Tashkent architecture of the 2nd half of the 20th Cengtury. Its basic form is a cube which is the symbol of eternity of Eastern architecture. The building’s facade is an array of geometric sun-shading screens faced with whitish pink marble.
My Apologies – Entirely too few buildings shown above for such a vibrant architecturallyrich city…. but time runs out while I try to at least introduce a few examples. I do find some of the Mid-20th Century Soviet Buildings to be fascinating and worthy architecture.
Six Weeks in Uzbekistan 
The Soviet architecture does surprise me. More interesting and alive than I would have thought. I am thinking you must need to be packing! And I am also kind of grinning at the Museum of History, which reminds me greatly of the look of the Ag Science building on Limestone that initially had a sheathing of grills, or some kind of structures, that looked like upright ears of corn. I don’t know whether those were for sun moderation, and don’t know why they came down, but I kind of miss them. Nice to see that building has a cousin in Tashkent. Travel well, easily and safely!
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