About Uzbekistan

The Independence Square (Mustaqilliq Maidoni) is the main square of the country with the administrative offices of the Cabinet and the Senate. Generally it looks more like a large park than a square, and is packed with monuments and fountains. Surrounded by impressive public buildings and filled with trees and flower beds, the Independence Square in Tashkent is a showcase of modern Uzbekistan.

The entrance to the square is framed by Arch of Independence with the sculptural images of storks on top. In the center of the square on the granite pedestal is placed the symbol of independence - the bronze ball, symbolizing the globe with a symbolic image of the Republic of Uzbekistan on it. At the foot of the obelisk there is the monument of the Happy Mother - the figure of a young woman with a baby in her arms.

To the north side of the square is a park with the Alley of Fame and Memory. Located on both sides of the alley are the galleries with carved pillars and tracery bars featuring 14 stelae (the number of country’s regions) bearing the memory books with the names of all Uzbeks fallen on the battlefields of the World War II. At the end of the alley there is the monument of the Sorrowful Mother and the eternal fire. This memorial remembers soldiers who gave their lives for peace and the mothers they left behind.  The names of the deceased are inscribed on granite walls of the Alley of Memory, at the centre of which is the Eternal Flame and the Lamenting Mother statue. The monument is accompanied by busts of two war heroes, Viktor Malyasov and Jurakhon Usmanov. The Independence Square has become the favorite recreation spot in Tashkent. There is a good tradition for the newlyweds to pay a visit to the Square on their wedding day.

The story of the Independence square as a center of Tashkent goes back to more than hundred years. The General Governor of Turkestan erected here his military fortress in 1865. Since 1974 this place was called the Avenue of Parades, where military parades and demonstrations of workers were held to celebrate the holidays of May 1st, International Workers Day, May 9 - Victory Day.

Passing through the arch of silver with figures of storks around the fountain, which marks the entrance to the Independence Square, you will see the the main monument of the Independence square. It is a high pedestal with a golden globe erected on the top. Before the pedestal there is a statue of a seated mother with a baby in her arms. The monumental complex represent the revival of Uzbekistan as a free independent state. The Monument of Independence was erected in 1992, and the complete reconstruction of the area was completed in 2006.

Look out also for the World War II memorial fronted by an eternal flame and engraved with the names of the 400,000 Uzbek soldiers who died.