Being rich with numerous historical architectural monuments, medieval iconic buildings and constructions of residential and civil architecture belonging to the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th centuries, Uzbekistan keeps attracting not only tourists from all over the world, but also historians, archaeologists and art critics as well.
The Samanids Mausoleum located in Bukhara, the world-known Mirzo Ulugbek Observatory in Samarkand, the famous Siab Bazaar, Kalta Minar Minaret located in the inner part of Khiva, the Complex of Hazrati Imam in Tashkent and many other architectural masterpieces of Uzbekistan amaze visitors with their vastness and grace, impressing any tourist visiting Uzbekistan.
Throughout history, the territory of modern Uzbekistan has had major cultural regions with historical centres located along the Great Silk Road. Distinctive regional architectural schools that had a strong capacity deriving the elements of the culture of various countries and nations, such as Bukhara, Samarkand, Khorezm have had form in the territory of current Uzbekistan. All of these architectural schools have had a huge impact on the architecture of Central Asian regions all over.
The ancient cities of Uzbekistan such as Bukhara, Samarkand, Khiva, Shakhrisabz, Termez, Kokand are truly treasure-cities. Historical and architectural monuments that have remained on these lands until our modern days are indeed among the greatest values of the world civilization, representing authentic masterpieces of art.
Regardless of the significance of Uzbekistan’s Islamic architecture in world history, no general research has been held in this regard so far, either no catalogue of preserved ancient monuments of Uzbekistan have been published, which would demonstrate the historical evolution and highlight the uniqueness of the historical architectural schools of Uzbekistan. Moreover, among the hundreds of the preserved great historical monuments, only the most significant examples located in the major cities forming a tourist route of Uzbekistan have been studied and are represented in the literature. Unfortunately, a great number of the ancient monuments and constructions in smaller cities, towns and villages of Uzbekistan, located along the ancient Silk Road of trade still remain undiscovered and unstudied thoroughly, represented in a passive way or not represented at all in the international popular scientific and research publications.
The authors’ team is currently proposing to develop a series of illustrated catalogues dedicated to studying and covering the historical architectural monuments of Uzbekistan in three languages: Uzbek, Russian and English. The catalogues series would highlight the unique and authentic approach of the regional architectural schools founded in the territory of Uzbekistan to the public.
As an example, the catalogue of the Bukhara region would include annotations, drawings and blueprints, historical and current photos of hundreds of the preserved monuments of architecture. Half of the works of art are made in a quite interesting and distinct way and design, however still remain unrevealed to the audience.
As a result of the project, the unstudied and unknown historical and cultural heritage of Uzbekistan will become popular among the international audience and the world travel market, thus attracting more tourists to Uzbekistan, also enabling to develop and design new tourist destinations in Uzbekistan.
The provisional structure of the 11 series catalogue looks like the following:
“The catalogue of architectural monuments of the Bukhara region”
“The catalogue of architectural monuments of the Navoi region”
“The catalogue of architectural monuments of the Samarkand region”
“The catalogue of architectural monuments of the Surkhandarya region”
“The catalogue of architectural monuments of the Kashkadarya region”
“The catalogue of architectural monuments of the Tashkent region”
“The catalogue of architectural monuments of the Djizak and Sirdarya regions”
“The catalogue of architectural monuments of Khorezm and Karakaplakstan”
“The catalogue of architectural monuments of the Fergana Valley”
