About Uzbekistan

Head out from the Hotel Uzbekistan to leafy Amir Timur Square where a statue of Tamerlane on horseback. The most eccentric reminder of tsarist Tashkent is the former residence of Grand Duke N.K. Romanov(1850-1917), a first cousin of Tsar Nicholas II , exiled here in 1881 for exploits involving the crown jewels. Ahead sprawls Independence Square flanked by public buildings and walls of fountains. Besides the globe stands the former Government House, first built in 1931 and now hoising the Bakhor Concert Hall and the Alisher Navoi Library. Part of it survives at the library's rear, where the Ankhor Canal, one-time border of old and new Tashkent, meanders through a verdant swimming and leisure area.

One of the remarkable building in Tashkent is "Alisher Navoi Opera & Ballet Theatre" was completely constructed in 1947 by Japanese prisoners of war. The head architect Shchusev designed the yellow-brick hybrid of classical and Central Asian styles. Beyond the marble lobby are six foyers dedicated to Tashkent, Samarkand, Bukhara, Termez, Khiva and Fergana, all thickly dressed in stucco carving, themes motifs and murals from Navoi's poetry.

In 1974 the State Fine Art Museum of Uzbekistan received the collection established in 1918 from works confiscated from Grand Duke Romanov, an exiled cousin of the tsar, who in turn had probably stolen them from St. Petersburg's Hermitage. There are European paintings and sculpture from 15th- 20th centuries, notably Russian icons from Novgorod, the paintings of Soviet artists like Benkov and Volkov in the second floor of museum. Uzbek arts dominants the ground and first floors: ceramics from the ninth to 17th centuries; tile fragments from Samarkand, Shakhrizabs, Bukhara and Khiva.Museum of Applied Arts is a popular for its setting as for its many beautiful exhibits. Every day new guests come to the caravanseray. Among the store of 19th-20th century embroidery are many items essential to a bride's dowry: suzaine wall-hangings and variants such as oi-palyak, lunar sky, and gulkupra, flower blanket.

In Uzbekistan, however , you will often be reminded that staying in is a safer culinary bet. You can now combine the two by visiting the home restaurants of Chagatai bazaar. Long renowned for exceptional shashlik, the bazaar air is pungent with grilled meat by 4am. A number of fresh dairy products are available to complete your breakfast. After 10 am the grillers return home and open their doors until 10 pm. Three blocks north of the Hotel Uzbekistan is Alaisky Bazaar, a cornucopia of fruit, vegetables, sheep innards and Lada parts. Spring and summer coat stalls with cherries, raspberries, figs and melons.