The State Museum of History of Uzbekistan is housed in one of Tashkent’s most beautiful buildings — the former Lenin Museum, opened in 1970 to mark the centenary of the birth of the leader of the proletariat.

The creators of this unique building are winners of the Hamza Uzbek SSR State Prize: architects Ye. Rozanov and V. Shestopalov, designers V. Krichevsky and I. Lentochkin, co-author architect Yu. Boldychev, and engineer T. Melik-Arakelyan.

The journal “Architecture of the USSR” No. 7, 1972, wrote:

“The V. I. Lenin Museum building in Tashkent seems to unite the city’s two central squares, which determines its city-forming significance. The architectural monument to the leader has become one of the sights of the capital of Uzbekistan, its emblem. The centrally planned composition, open on all sides, has united not only the new squares but also linked the surrounding districts into a single whole permeated with a new ideological meaning.

The high purpose and monumental character of the building are expressed here in a simple, laconic volumetric and planning solution. A plan close to a square (56×50 m), modest height (22.5 m), the main hall in the centre surrounded by the exposition — all this predetermined the clear centric composition of the building.”

Experts also highlight the successful use of national ornamentation in the white sun-protective grilles (panjara), which accentuates the building’s beauty, and the fact that the building itself is the main part of the museum’s exhibition.

It should be recalled that the Museum of History was founded on 12 July 1876 on the initiative of scholars — members of the Turkestan branch of the Moscow Society of Lovers of Natural Science, Anthropology and Ethnography. From February 1919 it was called the State Museum of Turkestan. Throughout the 20th century the museum repeatedly changed its name and location until 1992, when it finally moved into this beautiful building.

The museum’s collections contain about 250,000 items, including around 60,000 archaeological, over 80,000 numismatic and 16,000 ethnographic objects reflecting Uzbek history from primitive times to the present day. Only a small portion is exhibited. On the first floor of the four-storey building is a gallery that regularly hosts contemporary exhibitions on various themes. The second floor illustrates the history of Uzbekistan from ancient times to the Timurid era. The third floor is devoted to the period of the three khanates: Khiva, Kokand and the Emirate of Bukhara. The fourth floor presents exhibits of the most recent historical period — the 19th to 21st centuries.