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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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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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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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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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Chorsu Bazaar
Tashkent's most famous farmers market, topped by a giant green dome, is a delightful slice of city life spilling into the streets off Old Town's southern edge. If it grows and it's edible, it's here.
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Crying Mother Monument
North of Mustaqillik maydoni is the Crying Mother Monument. Fronted by an eternal flame, it was constructed in 1999 to honour the 400,000 Uzbek soldiers who died in WWII. The niches along its two corridors house their names. Karimov has built a nearly identical monument near the centre of most major Uzbek cities. Hey, at least he's not building Turkmenbashi-style monuments to himself.
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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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Fine Arts Museum of Uzbekistan
The four floors of the Fine Arts Museum of Uzbekistan walk you through 1500 years of art in Uzbekistan, from 7th-century Buddhist relics, to the art of pre-Russian Turkestan, to Soviet realism, to contemporary works.
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History Museum of the People of Uzbekistan
The History Museum of the People of Uzbekistan is a must-stop for anyone looking for a primer on the history of Turkestan from ancient times to the present.
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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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Kosmonavtlar Station
It's worth taking the metro to reach some of the sites around town, if only to visit some of the lavishly decorated stations. A must is the Kosmonavtlar Station with its unearthly images of Amir Timur's astronomer grandson, Ulugbek and Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, among others.
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Kulkedash Medressa
The grand 16th-century Kulkedash Medressa sits beside Tashkent's principal Juma (Friday) mosque on a hill overlooking Chorsu Bazaar. The 15th-century mosque was once a place of execution for unfaithful wives. The mosque was a sheet metal workshop and the medressa a storage space during Soviet times. Both were renovated in the mid-90s, and on warm Friday mornings the plaza in front overflows with worshippers.
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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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Monument to Alisher Navoi
Near the Oliy Majlis is a vast promenade and a post-Soviet Monument to Alisher Navoi, Uzbekistan's newly chosen cultural hero.
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Moyie Mubarek Library Museum
The official religious centre of the republic is located 2km north of the Circus, on Zarqaynar kochasi. Here you'll find the newly restored Moyie Mubarek Library Museum, which houses the 7th-century Osman Quran (Uthman Quran), said to be the world's oldest. This enormous deerskin tome was brought to Samarkand by Timur, then taken to Moscow by the Russians in 1868 before bring returned to Tashkent by Lenin in 1924 as an act of goodwill towards Turkestan's Muslims.
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Museum of Applied Arts
The Museum of Applied Arts occupies an exquisite house full of bright ghanch and carved wood. It was built in the 1930s, at the height of the Soviet period, but nonetheless serves as a good sneak preview of the older architectural lurking in Bukhara and Samarkand. The ceramic and textile displays here, with English descriptions, are a fine way to bone up the regional decorative styles of Uzbekistan, and there's a pricey gift shop to trap impulse buyers.
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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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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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Navoi Park
Downtown Tashkent's largest park, sprawling southward from Halqlar Dustligi metro, is a haven for joggers, Sunday strollers, and appreciators of Uzbek eccentricity. Soviet architects had a field day here, erecting a pod of spectacularly hideous concrete monstrosities, the most eye-catching of which is the Peoples' Friendship Palace, which appears like a moon-landing station from a 1950s film set. Looming inside is an enormous concert hall with 4200 seats.
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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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Peoples' Friendship Palace
Downtown Tashkent's largest park, sprawling southward from Halqlar Dustligi metro, is a haven for joggers, Sunday strollers, and appreciators of Uzbek eccentricity. Soviet architects had a field day in Navoi Park, erecting a pod of spectacularly hideous concrete monstrosities, the most eye-catching of which is the Peoples' Friendship Palace, which appears like a moon-landing station from a 1950s film set. Looming inside is an enormous concert hall with 4200 seats.
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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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Seattle Peace Park
At the other end of town, Babur Park is home to the poignant Seattle Peace Park, a collection of small tiles designed by Tashkent- and Seattle-based schoolchildren in the 1980s. The tiles, many of which are cracked or missing, recall the Cold War era with messages like 'You can't hug your child with nuclear arms', in Russian or English.
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Senate
The shiny white edifice on the west side of the square is the brand new Senate building. Its ample size and appearance suggest that it was built to outdo America's Senate building. The president's office and most ministries take up the southern portion around Gagarin maydoni.
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Statue of Timur
Tashkent's main streets radiate from Amir Timur Maydoni, where a glowering bust of Marx has been replaced by a suitably patriotic Statue of Timur on horseback. A glance under the statue reveals that the stallion has been divested of a certain reproductive appendage. Just who stole it is one of Tashkent's great mysteries. Fortunately the horse's formidable family jewels remain intact - for now.
