The grand opening ceremony of the new international tourist center Silk Road Samarkand took place on 23 August. The President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev arrived in Samarkand to participate in the opening ceremony.
The head of our state made a speech and congratulated everyone on this joyful event.
This outstanding project was given a start in 2019 by the initiative of President Shavkat Mirziyoyev. This ambitious project covered the construction of a huge complex on an area of 212 hectares along the rowing canal in the Samarkand region. An international team of experienced architects and engineers was involved in the development of the Silk Road Samarkand project.
Local qualified construction companies, experts and specialists from Turkey, Great Britain, and Italy were engaged in the development of this marvelous project in Samarkand, which was planned to become the International Tourist Center in Central Asia.
The multifunctional center includes 8 modern hotels, a congress hall, the Eternal City complex, an amphitheater and many other entertainment facilities. Silk Road Samarkand has a capacity of serving 2 million tourists a year.
- This wonderful center is a continuation of the architectural traditions founded by our great ancestors. I am sure that it will become a symbolic bridge between our glorious history and the Third Renaissance, the foundation of which we are currently forming, the President noted during his speech at the opening ceremony.
The project was named Silk Road Samarkand with a deep meaning to it – the buildings of the complex reflect historical paintings of the era of the Great Silk Road. Thus, when designing the Eternal City ensemble, the plot of the fresco preserved on the wall of ancient Afrosiab depicting the ceremony of receiving ambassadors from Korea, China, India and other countries by the ruler of the Sogdian state was used.
The complex locates in itself an old bazaar, with 40 craft workshops in the traditions of all regions of Uzbekistan. Artisans will conduct master classes in woodcarving, pottery, silk paper, jewelry and carpet weaving in front of the guests and tourists visiting the Silk Road Samarkand Complex.
The new tourist center will play an important role in increasing the number of foreign tourists visiting Samarkand to more than 1.5 million people in the coming years. In general, the goal is to increase the number of tourists traveling to Uzbekistan from the current 2 million to 9 million in the upcoming five years. Additionally, the new project creates a significant number of new workplaces for people living in Uzbekistan, raising the employment in the tourism sector to over 500,000 people.
At the same time, the modern hotels and a congress hall designed in the Silk Road Samarkand Tourist Complex will create conditions for large-scale events. Significant international events will soon be held here, such as the summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, and the meeting of the leaders of the member states of the Organization of Turkic States. Next year, the ancient city will host the annual meeting of the Board of Governors of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the General Assembly of the World Tourism Organization.
