Information

The foundation of the Museum of Arts of Uzbekistan dates back to 1918. Initially, it was called the Museum of the National University. After some time - the Central Art Museum, the Tashkent Museum of Art, and only since the mid 30s of the 20th century, it became the Museum of Arts of Uzbekistan. From the moment of its foundation until 1935, the museum was located in the building of the Palace of the Romanovs, for the next three decades the place of residence was the People’s House. In the mid-70s a new building was erected for the museum. It has the shape of a cube, and the facade is divided into equal parts in the form of squares with metal frames and lined with aluminum material. The ground floor and the facade with the main entrance are lined with polished marble stone of gray shades. The windows are glazed with a special material for uniform diffused penetration of sunlight into the room. Initially, the museum consisted of more than a hundred items from personal collections belonging to Prince Romanov and other collectors. These exhibits were nationalized in 1918 - it was the graphics and paintings made by the masters of Russia and Europe, as well as porcelain, decorated furniture, objects of sculpture. The collection was replenished with exhibits belonging to the regional museum of Turkestan and specimens from Moscow and Leningrad museums. Already in the 20s, the museum was in charge of over one hundred exhibits of the XVIII – XIX centuries, the authors of which were Tropinin V.A., Borovikovsky V.L., Yaroshenko N.A., Repin I.E. etc. Thanks to personal collections, the exposition was replenished by more than two hundred works of Central Asian painters (Karazin N.N., Sommer R.K., Kazakov I.S.), who created their paintings in tsarist times. The second half of the 30s of the 20th century was marked by a significant addition to the museum collection thanks to Uzbek artists. There are also works by European masters (Spain, Italy, England, France, Germany, etc.). These exhibits are located in several halls.