The Arabs declared war on the Tang Chinese forces and eventually crushed them at The Battle of Talas 751 AD. This led to the expulsion of the Tang Chinese from Central Asia.
While crossing Central Asia, different routes developed. Kashgar in far Western China became the new crossroads of Asia; from here the routes again divided, heading across the Pamirs to Samarkand and to the south of the Caspian Sea, or to the South into India. Eventually the road reached the shores of the Caspian Sea, via Tashkent. Thus the 8,000 km long Silk Road connected Beijing to Constantinople via the movement of religions and products. And Tashkent emerged as a major trading city en route.
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Friday Mosque
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Kukeldash Madrassah
The rise of Islam impacted on Asia, separating the East and West. The Islamic State of the Ghaznavids (962-1186) extended from Persia to India, with Lahore as the capital.
Timur/Tamerlane (1336–1405) was an Islamic Turco-Mongol conqueror. In 1390 Tamerlane ravaged Kashgar, Andijan and the intervening country. Tamerlane was recognised as a great patron of art and architecture, as he interacted with Muslim intellectuals. Tashkent Museum’s architecture reflects the beauty of Islam, from his era on.
Tamerlane’s son Miran Shah (1366–1408) was the father of Sultan Mahmud Mirza and the grandfather of Babur (1483-1530), founder of the Mughal Empire that ruled South Asia for 3.5 centuries, from 1526-1857.
Babur based his administration on the Persian model; the Persian language became official. The birth place of Babur was not in Tashkent but in Andijan - see his house-museum, memorial and symbolic tomb. Also note that the University and a large library of Andijan are named after him. These days many streets, parks and monuments are named after Babur in Tashkent as well. A small Tashkent museum presents Babur’s life and work, miniatures and gifts.
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Chorsu bazaar
Moslems played the part of middlemen in trade. Muslim architecture became the motor of the Turkic-Persian culture and, for the first time, Islamic religious and educational facilities were established en route. Tourists to Tashkent will want to see Kaffal Shashi Mausoleum, built in Imam Square in 1542 in honour of a C10th polymath i.e a philosopher-linguist-Sharia judge-author-poet. In the heyday of Islamic Renaissance, the world was given hundreds of wonderful scientists, theologians and writers. Now the building is the residence of the Head of Central Asia’s Islam.
Juma Mosque/Friday Mosque was built in the C15th. After the recent earthquake, the mosque was completely renovated and looks modern. As 88% of Tashkent’s population is Islamic and only 10% Russian Orthodox, mosques and Madrassas are well used.
Next door to the Friday Mosque is the city’s Kukeldash Madrassa which was built in the mid C16th by Vezir Kukeldash. With only 38 cells for students, it was tiny compared to the ones in Samarkand, Bukhara and Khiva. It was built in brick; only the façade was décorated with geometrical tilework. The original square shape with a big portal, towers and a shady inner yard that enabled the madrassa to be used as a caravanserai or fortress in more modern times. Only in mid C20th was the building restored as a madrassa again.
On the other side of the Kukeldash Madrassa, Chorsu Bazaar is huge and crowded. Chorsu is the very centre of Old Tashkent where markets are held either under the blue-colored domed buildings, for climate control, or in the open-air spaces. Alay Bazaar is one of the oldest bazaars of Tashkent, emerging a site on the livestock trade route. In the C19th, this space became a full-fledged bazaar and one of the most visited place for locals. This bazaar now has rows of foods and desert sellers especially Tashkent Plov, lamb stew and rice.
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Romanov Palace
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Alisher Navoi Theatre
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Hotel Uzbekistan
In late C19th Grand Duke Nikolai Konstantinovich (d1918), cousin of Czar Alexander III, was banished to Tashkent for shady deals involving the Russian Crown Jewels. His 1891 Romanov Palace still stands in the centre of town. The large collection of works borrowed from the Hermitage back in Grand Duke Romanov’s days, to decorate his palace-in-exile, is now in Tashkent’s Fine Arts Museum of Uzbekistan. See paintings, carved woodwork, metalwork, plaster and stucco work, ceramic tiles and exquisite textiles.
Until 1865 Tashkent was under the rule of the Central Asian Khanate of Kokand; then the Russian colonial conquest of Turkestan was complete. Tashkent became Russian Turkestan’s main city!
In 1917 the Russian Revolution broke out, a terrible time for Tashkent’s citizens, although at least Tashkent soon became the capital of the Turkestan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. In 1930 Tashkent took capital city honour from Samarkand and became the green capital and largest city of Uzbekistan. So Tashkent has a] Uzbek, b] Imperial Russian and c] Soviet modern buildings.
As German armies sped across the Soviet Union in 1941, the Soviets embarked on a desperate attempt to safeguard its population and industrial resources right in the middle of WW2. Soviet authorities transported people and industry away from the western war fronts into the safety of the east. The Urals, Siberia, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Kazakhstan together received 16 million evacuees. With Tashkent as the favoured destination, this movement of desperate refugees remains the largest organised movement of civilians in history. I have a vested interest in this city - my mother’s Russian aunt and first cousin were moved to the hospitable safe-haven of Uzbekistan during WW2 ... and survived.
The present population of Tashkent is 2.5 million people.
The city has immense buildings in the Soviet architecture style, a style associated with social, utopian ideology. After the devastating 1966 Tashkent earthquake, large-scale apartment blocks were quickly built to house the homeless. And grand buildings were constructed, as well as the marvellous metro. The massive Hotel Uzbekistan, centrally located in Tashkent’s Amir Timur square, is a classic example of the 1970s Soviet style. This is also Central Asia’s most important political and commercial city, and transportation hub. Parliament Building was completed by 1997. The National History Museum, an impressive building with brilliant blue dome and ornate interior, celebrates Uzbek history. And amazing gardens.
Southern China Silk Road Tour spends 3.5 days in Tashkent and Samarkand. Nowhere else in Central Asia is as evocative of the Silk Road as Uzbekistan. In terms of architecture and historical sights, Uzbekistan still attracts the historically-minded tourists away from other neighbouring countries.
While crossing Central Asia, different routes developed. Kashgar in far Western China became the new crossroads of Asia; from here the routes again divided, heading across the Pamirs to Samarkand and to the south of the Caspian Sea, or to the South into India. Eventually the road reached the shores of the Caspian Sea, via Tashkent. Thus the 8,000 km long Silk Road connected Beijing to Constantinople via the movement of religions and products. And Tashkent emerged as a major trading city en route.
The rise of Islam impacted on Asia, separating the East and West. The Islamic State of the Ghaznavids (962-1186) extended from Persia to India, with Lahore as the capital.
Timur/Tamerlane (1336–1405) was an Islamic Turco-Mongol conqueror. In 1390 Tamerlane ravaged Kashgar, Andijan and the intervening country. Tamerlane was recognised as a great patron of art and architecture, as he interacted with Muslim intellectuals. Tashkent Museum’s architecture reflects the beauty of Islam, from his era on.
Tamerlane’s son Miran Shah (1366–1408) was the father of Sultan Mahmud Mirza and the grandfather of Babur (1483-1530), founder of the Mughal Empire that ruled South Asia for 3.5 centuries, from 1526-1857.
Babur based his administration on the Persian model; the Persian language became official. The birth place of Babur was not in Tashkent but in Andijan - see his house-museum, memorial and symbolic tomb. Also note that the University and a large library of Andijan are named after him. These days many streets, parks and monuments are named after Babur in Tashkent as well. A small Tashkent museum presents Babur’s life and work, miniatures and gifts.
Moslems played the part of middlemen in trade. Muslim architecture became the motor of the Turkic-Persian culture and, for the first time, Islamic religious and educational facilities were established en route. Tourists to Tashkent will want to see Kaffal Shashi Mausoleum, built in Imam Square in 1542 in honour of a C10th polymath i.e a philosopher-linguist-Sharia judge-author-poet. In the heyday of Islamic Renaissance, the world was given hundreds of wonderful scientists, theologians and writers. Now the building is the residence of the Head of Central Asia’s Islam.
Juma Mosque/Friday Mosque was built in the C15th. After the recent earthquake, the mosque was completely renovated and looks modern. As 88% of Tashkent’s population is Islamic and only 10% Russian Orthodox, mosques and Madrassas are well used.
Next door to the Friday Mosque is the city’s Kukeldash Madrassa which was built in the mid C16th by Vezir Kukeldash. With only 38 cells for students, it was tiny compared to the ones in Samarkand, Bukhara and Khiva. It was built in brick; only the façade was décorated with geometrical tilework. The original square shape with a big portal, towers and a shady inner yard that enabled the madrassa to be used as a caravanserai or fortress in more modern times. Only in mid C20th was the building restored as a madrassa again.
On the other side of the Kukeldash Madrassa, Chorsu Bazaar is huge and crowded. Chorsu is the very centre of Old Tashkent where markets are held either under the blue-colored domed buildings, for climate control, or in the open-air spaces. Alay Bazaar is one of the oldest bazaars of Tashkent, emerging a site on the livestock trade route. In the C19th, this space became a full-fledged bazaar and one of the most visited place for locals. This bazaar now has rows of foods and desert sellers especially Tashkent Plov, lamb stew and rice.
modern tramway system
In late C19th Grand Duke Nikolai Konstantinovich (d1918), cousin of Czar Alexander III, was banished to Tashkent for shady deals involving the Russian Crown Jewels. His 1891 Romanov Palace still stands in the centre of town. The large collection of works borrowed from the Hermitage back in Grand Duke Romanov’s days, to decorate his palace-in-exile, is now in Tashkent’s Fine Arts Museum of Uzbekistan. See paintings, carved woodwork, metalwork, plaster and stucco work, ceramic tiles and exquisite textiles.
Until 1865 Tashkent was under the rule of the Central Asian Khanate of Kokand; then the Russian colonial conquest of Turkestan was complete. Tashkent became Russian Turkestan’s main city!
In 1917 the Russian Revolution broke out, a terrible time for Tashkent’s citizens, although at least Tashkent soon became the capital of the Turkestan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. In 1930 Tashkent took capital city honour from Samarkand and became the green capital and largest city of Uzbekistan. So Tashkent has a] Uzbek, b] Imperial Russian and c] Soviet modern buildings.
As German armies sped across the Soviet Union in 1941, the Soviets embarked on a desperate attempt to safeguard its population and industrial resources right in the middle of WW2. Soviet authorities transported people and industry away from the western war fronts into the safety of the east. The Urals, Siberia, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Kazakhstan together received 16 million evacuees. With Tashkent as the favoured destination, this movement of desperate refugees remains the largest organised movement of civilians in history. I have a vested interest in this city - my mother’s Russian aunt and first cousin were moved to the hospitable safe-haven of Uzbekistan during WW2 ... and survived.
The present population of Tashkent is 2.5 million people.
The city has immense buildings in the Soviet architecture style, a style associated with social, utopian ideology. After the devastating 1966 Tashkent earthquake, large-scale apartment blocks were quickly built to house the homeless. And grand buildings were constructed, as well as the marvellous metro. The massive Hotel Uzbekistan, centrally located in Tashkent’s Amir Timur square, is a classic example of the 1970s Soviet style. This is also Central Asia’s most important political and commercial city, and transportation hub. Parliament Building was completed by 1997. The National History Museum, an impressive building with brilliant blue dome and ornate interior, celebrates Uzbek history. And amazing gardens.
Southern China Silk Road Tour spends 3.5 days in Tashkent and Samarkand. Nowhere else in Central Asia is as evocative of the Silk Road as Uzbekistan. In terms of architecture and historical sights, Uzbekistan still attracts the historically-minded tourists away from other neighbouring countries.