Tashkent's Museum of Applied Art - a unique private public gem

Address: 15, str. Rakatboshi, Yakkasaray district, Tashkent
Phone: (+998 71) 256-40-42, 256-39-43

Working hours: from 09:00 a.m. to 09:00 p.m. (w/o lunch, cash-desk closes at 05:00 p.m.)

Web site: www.artmuseum.uz

Sketches of various professions
adorn the first hall. Beautiful work.

Museum of Applied Arts is located in a house built by a Russian diplomat in the 19th cent. The building from the outside is unimposing. There is a large courtyard and after you pay the obligatory fees for the camera, and yourself, you start the tour from the far side – near a very finely carved door. Then you enter a unique kingdom and wonder how the owner must have felt when the Govt took over all his personal exhibits and made it their own, adding many more exhibits to the outstanding  collection.

I am going to let the exhibits speak for themselves as they are just too beautiful. We were stunned by the quality of the work. 

There are different interpretations on its past history and what the building was used for.

Until the middle of 1930, the building housed a children's home. Later different organizations were opened, including the training center carving ganch, embossing. History of Museum of Applied Art of Uzbekistan dates back to 1927, when the first exhibition of artworks by artists of Uzbekistan was held here. Since July 1937 there used to be a museum of handicrafts when it was called the Museum of Handicrafts.  

In 1960, it was named "The permanent exhibition of applied art of Uzbekistan".

In 1997 the building was intended for the Ministry of culture of the Republic of Uzbekistan and received the status of “State Museum of Arts and Crafts”. 

The Museum of Applied Art lists over 7,000 samples of applied arts: handmade embroidery, skull-caps (tyubeteyka), jewelry, carpets and other examples of craftsmanship of the beginning of the 19th century to present day.

The quality of the embroidery is mind blowing ! 

All the exhibits of Museum of Applied Art of Uzbekistan can be divided into three groups:

- Works of applied arts based on ancient traditions and relating to schools;

- Works created since the second half of the 19th century with due consideration of traditional craftsmen’s methods;

- Works of modern art, decorated with colorful ornaments on the basis of the modern arts development.

The Museum of Applied Art of Uzbekistan also has two gift shops, where you can buy a painting, graphics, porcelain, carpets, embroidery, fabrics, jewelry, coinage, varnished miniature by modern Uzbek masters.

Several hundreds of exhibits representing the diversity of arts and crafts of  the country: ceramic, metal, carving and painting on wood, artistic hand and machine embroidery, carpets, gold embroidery. This is the work of professional folk artisans who create original works of applied art.

Art Museum is a fine example of high skill architecture and decorative art of the end XIX century. The interior of the central hall of the museum (mehmonhona) differs with an architectural decoration. 

Its walls are decorated with ornamental carvings ganch and wooden ceiling covered with decorative painting in the technique kundal. 

Best examples from the collection of national decorative art, exhibited in 13 rooms of the museum are in harmony with the architectural complex of the building.

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