Uzbekistan is the country with open arms that always welcomes its guests with smile and warm spirit. In this section guests of our sunny soil will have an opportunity to virtually trip along historical and wonderful cities of Uzbekistan.
As the regional centre of tsarist and Soviet rule, the town of Ferghana has grown into the valley's third-largest city, with a population of 230,000. Founded in 1876, 20 kilometres from the ancient town of Margilan, it was christened New Margilan, then in 1907 became Skobelov, after the first military governor, and in 1924 assumed the valley's name. Ferghana's wide avenues spread fan-like from the old military fortress, recalling the St Petersburg design of Tashkent. Parks, fountains, Russian architecture and industrial zones strengthen the similarity, and the contrast, with Uzbek, Islamic Margilan.
Sights
Proudly termed the greenest city in Central Asia by its citizens, Ferghana is usually just a stopover en route to the rest of the valley, yet its plane- and poplar-shaded streets of blue-washed houses deserve a walkabout. From the bazaar, follow pedestrian Mustakillik Kuchasi (Independence Street) to the verdant Al-Ferghani Park, named after the ninth-century astronomer and Ferghana valley native who like several of Central Asia's finest minds bloomed at Caliph al-Mamum's 'House of Wisdom' in Merv and later Baghdad. His 'Book of Celestial Movements' influenced Dante's 'Divine Comedy' and predicted the discovery of America. At the Mustakillik/Al-Ferghani crossroads stands the Regional Theatre, once the grand 1877 residence of General Mikhail Skobelov. His troops knew him as the 'White General', from his uniform and horse, but to the Turkmen he terrorized after subduing Ferghana he was 'Old Bloody Eyes', from his bloodshot post-battle appearance. Further up Al Ferghani, night of the Oilworker stadium, are the Deputy Governor’s house and the 1902 men’s gymnasium. Turn northwest up Uzman Khodjaeva for the Museum of Local studies. A 3-D map puts the valley in revealing perspective before stuffed standards of natural- history give way to archaeological displays and pictures of remote carvings. Among other exhibits are a hall of colorful Rishtan ceramics, postcards of pre-revolutionary Turkestan and unconventional tubiteika embroidered with figures, poetry.
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