Bukhara Museums: State Architectural Art Museum
Address: 2, Afrosiab str., Bukhara
Phone: (+99865) 224-13-49, 224-21-07
Working hours: from 9.00 a.m. to 04.30 p.m.
Tuesday: from 9.00 a.m. to 02.30 p.m.
Day off: Wednesday
Web site: www.bukhara-museum.ru
Bukhara State Architectural Art Museum-Preserve was founded in 1922. From 1945 on, Bukhara museum is located in Ark fortress. There are over 100,000 items of cultural, material and intellectual legacy of Uzbek people in the Bukhara museum funds. The exhibits include gold embroidery, copper chased items, ganch carving, samples of architectural decor, coins, household items, graphic works, painting, sculpture, old maps, books and other documents of historical value.
In 1985 Bukhara museum has got status of a state culture preserve. Nowadays it has 6 branches with 18 permanent exhibitions located in various memorials of Bukharian architecture.
Bukhara museum expositions
- Ark citadel hosts the head office of the Bukhara museum and its expositions of history, numismatics, epigraphy, nature and scripts of Bukhara.
- Ornamental and applied arts of the Central Asian people as well as household items of Bukhara emirs may be seen in the museum branch located in the summer camp of Bukhara emirs – Sitorai Mokhi-Khosa Palace.
- Fayzulla Khodjaev Memorial House-Museum introduces visitors to the life of a rich merchant family of the end of the 19th – the beginning of the 20th centuries.
- The mediaeval Kukeldash madrasah hosts expositions dedicated to literature works and sociopolitical activity of the outstanding representatives of Jadidism - Sadriddin Ayni and Jalol Ikromi. In 1996 a separate memorial museum of another outstanding Jadid – Abdurauf Fitrat, who made a huge contribution to the modern Uzbek literature development, was built on the Nakshbandi street.
- A museum exposition of modern items by Bukhara craftsmen and works of talented painters which can be not only seen but also purchased as Bukhara souvenirs are in the historical center of Bukhara in Nadir Divan-Begi tekke (khanaka).
- Oriental carpets were famous from the earliest times all over the world as they were distinct with softness of natural pile, richness of patterns and colors. The carpet museum placed in the Magoki-Attori Mosque gathered samples of craftsmanship of Uzbek, Turkmen, Iranian, Kazakh, Armenian weavers of 18th – 20th centuries.
- Chashma-Ayub Mausoleum hosts another exposition of Bukhara museum dedicated to water supply of the Bukhara region. Here one can see travelers’ leather wineskins, copper vessels, and ceramic water supplying pipes of past centuries.
- Legal procedure system of 19th -20th centuries is represented by the Bukhara museum exposition placed in the former emir prison-zindan built in 18th century in the north-west of the ancient shakhristan.
- Exposition devoted to life and activity of a major theologist of Islam - Imam al-Bukhari - is in a modern building built by drawings of an Uzbek architect Zoirsho Klichev in 2001.
- The memorial complex of a famous leader of Sufism Bakhouddin Nakshbandi located in 12 km from Bukhara has an exposition dedicated to Sufi doctrine of Nakshbandi – tarikat.
- Best samples of craftsmanship of Bukhara carvers may be seen in Abdullaziz Khan madrasah built at the end of the 17th century.
- One more exposition of the Bukhara state museum dedicated to the history of restoration of Bukhara memorials starting from the beginning XX is in the Ulugbek madrasah.
- A very interesting Museum of blacksmith shop is placed in the Kuluta caravanserai located on the territory of the second trade dome of Bukhara in the historical center of the city. Visitors of this workshop may familiarize themselves with history of smithcraft development in Bukhara as well as take part in the item making under guidance of a famous Bukhara smith - usto Shakir Kamalov.
- In the Ibrahim Okhunda Madrasah you will learn about early mediaeval city Varakhsh (4th-7th centuries B.C.) which used to be a prosperous capital of Bukhar-khudats.
- Kamoliddin Behzod Fine Arts Museum offers two temporary expositions dedicated to fine arts of Bukhara and history of jewellery (from 1st century BC to 20th century).
- There are ruins of ancient settlement Paikend 60 km from Bukhara. The Museum dedicated to the history of Paikend ancient settlement, listed among Bukhara state museum branches, was opened not far away from it in 2003.
- Abu Ali Ibn Sino Museum was built in 1980 to commemorate the 1000th anniversary of this outstanding figure in Afshona, native village of a famous oriental scientist and doctor Avicenna, and is dedicated to Avicenna’s life in the Samanid era (end of 9th – the beginning of 10th centuries).
