Sights in Uzbekistan
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Amir Timur Museum
The richly decorated Amir Timur Museum is a must for aficionados of kitsch and cult-making. Murals show Timur commissioning public projects and praising his labourers, yet conspicuously overlooking his bloody, skull-stacking military campaigns.
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Hammom Kunjak
This women's bathhouse is behind Kalon Minaret.
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Wedding Palace
Southeast of the Friendship Palace is the equally appalling Wedding Palace, a vulgar, crooked chunk of Khrushchev-era concrete.
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Assumption Cathedral
Near Mirobod Bazaar is one of Tashkent's four Orthodox churches, the Assumption Cathedral, which is bright blue with copper domes.
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Gagarin Monument
Out by the Uzbekistan Airways office, the Gagarin Monument will thrill lovers of Soviet iconography. It looks like it was plucked out of a giant cereal box.
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Art Gallery of Uzbekistan
The recently opened Art Gallery of Uzbekistan rolls out rotating exhibits of Uzbekistan's top contemporary artists in its circular, Guggenheim-like interior.
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Oliy Majlis
The tightly guarded building southwest of the Friendship Palace is the Oliy Majlis. It currently functions as a giant rubber stamp in its infrequent sessions.
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Rukhobod Mausoleum
Between Guri Amir and the main road is Rukhobod Mausoleum, dated 1380 and possibly the city's oldest surviving monument. It now serves as a souvenir and craft shop.
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Makhdumi Khorezm Mosque
A recently restored gem is the Makhdumi Khorezm Mosque, 100m east of the Registan. If it's locked ask the caretaker to let you in for a glimpse at the lush ceiling tilework.
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Romanov Palace
East of the square across Rashidova kochasi, the animal-festooned facade of the Tsarist-era Romanov Palace faces the Art Gallery of Uzbekistan, and is now closed to the public.
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Hodja-Nisbaddor Mosque
South of the Registan on Suzangaran is the fine Hodja-Nisbaddor Mosque, a small 19th-century summer mosque with an open porch, tall carved columns and brightly restored ceiling.
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Borzi Kord
Folk rave about Bukhara's famed hammomi (baths), most notably the Borzi Kord. It's technically a men's bathhouse but groups of tourists can reserve it after hours for mixed use.
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Earthquake Memorial
The New Soviet men and women who rebuilt Tashkent after the 1966 earthquake are remembered in stone at the Earthquake Memorial. Newlyweds flock here to have their photos taken on weekends.
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Tashkent Land
Just north of the InterContinental, Uzbekistan's largest amusement park, Tashkent Land, has a handful of creaky Soviet rides. It's an amusing diversion, just don't expect Walt Disney World.
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Gaukushan Medressa
West of Taqi-Sarrafon is the interesting 16th-century Gaukushan Medressa with chipped majolica on its unrestored façade.
Across the canal is a little brother of the Kalon Minaret.
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Hoja Zayniddin Mosque
Across from the Ark on Hoja Nurabad, the interior of the 16th-century Hoja Zayniddin Mosque has some of the best very old, original mosaic and ghanch work you're going to see anywhere.
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Museum of Art
Museum of Art has mostly 20th-century paintings by Bukharan artists, some of which can be purchased in a gallery on the ground floor. It's in the former headquarters of the Russian Central Asian Bank (1912).
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Barakhon Medressa
Across the street from the Moyie Mubarek Library Museum is the 16th-century Barakhon Medressa, which houses the Muslim Board of Uzbekistan, whose grand mufti is roughly the Islamic equivalent of an archbishop.
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Khodja Abdi Darun Mausoleum
Across the street from the Ishratkhana Mausoleum is the Khodja Abdi Darun Mausoleum, which shares a tranquil, shady courtyard with a mosque and a hauz (artificial stone pools). To get here take marshrutka 22 or 32.
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Mausoleum of Abu Bakr Kaffal Shoshi
Near the mam Ismail al-Bukhari Islamic Institute is the little 16th-century Mausoleum of Abu Bakr Kaffal Shoshi, an Islamic scholar of the Shaybanid period. Enter through the back to view his large tomb and five smaller ones.
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Mustaqillik Maydoni
Further west, good-luck pelicans guard the gates to the newly refurbished Mustaqillik Maydoni, where crowds gather to watch parades on Independence day and whenever else Karimov feels the need to stir up a bit of nationalistic spirit.
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Medressas
Southeast of Samani Park are two massive medressas, one named for the great Shaybanid ruler Abdulla Khan, and one for his mother called Modari Khan (mother of the khan). The latter is locked, the former contains yet more crafts shops.
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Ishratkhana Mausoleum
If you prefer your ruins really ruined, it's worth the slog out to the Tomb Raider-style, 15th-century Ishratkhana Mausoleum. With a preponderance of pigeons and an eerie crypt in the basement, this is the place to film your horror movie.
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Imam Ismail al-Bukhari Islamic Institute
Northwest of the Barakhon Medressa is the Imam Ismail al-Bukhari Islamic Institute, a two-year post-medressa academy with about 200 students. It was one of two medressas in Central Asia left open in Soviet times (the other was in Bukhara).
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Navoi Literary Museum
Besides memorabilia of 15th-century poet Alisher Navoi and other Central Asian literati, the Navoi Literary Museum has replica manuscripts, Persian calligraphy, and old miniatures that offer a glimpse of life in the 15th and 16th centuries.
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