About Uzbekistan

Earlier, the Samarkand Museum of Culture History was next to Registan, but in 2010 it was demolished, since the museum building, built in 1978 in the USSR times, strongly reminded of this very USSR. Therefore, the Soviet museum was moved to a new building, it is located halfway between Registan and the railway station on the so-called Povorot (Turn), every taxi driver in Samarkand knows this place, although hardly anyone knows about the museum.

The museum is very decent, although small, a collection of ancient artifacts occupies one floor in it. The exhibits include jewelry of bronze age, Zoroastrian ossuaries and worship items, few thousand of original paintings of well-known Uzbek artists from the beginning of the 20th century, and tragically famous film of M. Kayumov ‘Opening the Tomb of Tamerlane’ that was shot on the eve of the WW II in 1941.

The museum possesses a vast collection of antique and medieval ceramics, metal and glass, and also ganch décor. The numismatics fund of the Museum counts more than 30,000 coins from the times of the first states of the Central Asian region, from around the Black Sea territories, Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome. Among the rare exhibits there are three silver cups of 5-6th centuries found in the settlement Chelek in Samarkand.

Ethnographic collection has about 20,000 items of national clothing, gold-embroidery, and carpets mainly of 19-20th centuries. 

A copy of the friso depicting musicians from the Buddhist temple in Ayrtam, Surkhandarya, II century. BC. The friso is in the State Hermitage Museum

Burial from Chakka, XIV century. BC. The Samarkand region.

Saka helmet, VI century. BC.

The lid of the reliquary, II-IV centuries. Zartepe hillfort, Surkhandarya region.

Columns of the temple from the settlement of Erkurgan, Kashkadarya, III-VI centuries.

The foundation of the stupa from Karatepe, II-I centuries. BC (Surkhandarya) and the inspector of the museum.

Terracotta friso from Erkurgan, Kashkadarya, III-VI centuries.

The head of the deity with solar signs from the settlement of Erkurgan, Kashkadarya, III-VI centuries.

A copy of the friso depicting musicians from the Buddhist temple in Ayrtam, Surkhandarya, II century. BC.

Friso from Ayrtam.

Buddhist images from the ancient settlement of Kuva, VII-VIII cc. Fergana region.

Terracotta images from Afrasiab (Samarkand), II century. BC. - IV in. AD Apparently, this is some kind of female deity, for example, the famous Goddess Mother.

Reconstruction of the Bukhar Khudat Palace - the rulers of the Bukhara oasis in Varakhsha, the VI-VII centuries. Bukhara region. As it is easy to see, the palace is stylistically similar to the architecture of Mesopotamia.

Hall in the palace Bukhar Khudat. An ancient settlement of Varakhsha, VI-VII centuries.

Fragment of the architectural decoration of aivan from the palace in Varakhsha, VI-VII centuries

Fragment of the architectural decoration of aivan from the palace in Varakhsha, VI-VII centuries

Terracotta image of female deity from Varakhsha, Bukhar Khudat palace - rulers of Bukhara oasis, VII-VIII cc.

Terracotta images from Varakhsha

Fragment of decor from Varakhsha.

Side wall from ceramic ossuaries. V-VI c. Afrosiab, Samarkand.

Terracotta ossuary. Mullakurgan, VII-VIII century. Two female deities are depicted on its cover.

A fire temple and two priests are depicted on the side of the ossuary. In the ossuary, the bones of people were stored after the "processing" of corpses in dahmas, where the flesh was devoured by birds and dogs. Interestingly, in Persia itself they practically didn’t use such decorated boxes for keeping bones, i.e. this funeral custom was peculiar to Central Asia. In this case, the ossuary from Sogdiana has a similarity with ossuaries from Judea in the times of the Second Temple.

Fragment of the wall of the ossuary with solar symbols and male figures, V-VII cc. Samarkand region, Urgut.

Ossuary with a human head, V-VII centuries. The Samarkand region.

Ossuary in the form of a horse, V-VI centuries. The Samarkand region.

Terracotta head, on the top of the cover of the ossuary, VI-VII cc. Taylyak, the Samarkand region.

Ossuary with a cross from Kafir-Qala near Samarkand, V-VII cc. The cross image is found on many ossuaries (and in general different objects from Sogdiana), which indicates the enormous influence of Christianity in Central Asia in the pre-Islamic era.

Top cover of the ossuaries in the form of a human figure, V-VII cc. The Samarkand region.

Ceramic images from Afrosiab (Samarkand), V-VII cc. On the right, a half moon is seen on the character's head, he was often portrayed on the crown of the Sassanid rulers in Persia.

A strong man from Afrasiab, an anthropomorphic vessel, V-VII cc.

Dish from Afrasiab, X-XI centuries.

Fragments of pottery from Afrasiab, X-XII centuries.

Images on glazed dishes, Afrasiab, X-XII centuries.

The art of glazed ceramics came to Central Asia together with the Arab invasion. Afrasiab (present Samarkand) became the main center of its production.

Children's toy dishes from Afrasiab, X-XI centuries.

Ceramic ware from Afrasiab, IX-X cc.

Hum, Konka settlement, XII century. Tashkent region.

Figures from bone, IX-XII centuries. The ancient settlement Afrasiab, Samarkand.

Glassware from Afrasiab, IX-XII centuries.

Chirogi - oil lamps, XII - XIII, Afrasiab, Samarkand.

Fragments of the tiles of Timurid times, XIV-XV centuries.

Protective armament of the Bukharian warrior, XVII-XIX centuries.

Details of harness from Bukhara, XVIII century.

Saddle from Samarkand, the XVIII century.