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.
Lenin's neon dictum Art belongs to the People' has gone, but the building remains a tribute to harnessing art for political gain. By 1940, Soviet planners had decided a theatre would greatly enhance an area known as the Drunken Bazaar for its wine-soaked market. Japanese prisoners of war completed construction in 1947, while head architect Shchusev, designer of Lenin's mausoleum, reaped Stalin prizes for his yellow-brick hybrid of classical and Central Asian styles. Beyond the marble lobby are six foyers dedicated to Tashkent, Samarkand, Bukhara, Termez, Khiva and Ferghana, all thickly dressed in stucco carving, themed motifs and murals from Navoi's poetry. Under a chandelier resembling a jewel-studded skullcap, the auditorium seats 1,400 for grand productions of Russian opera or Uzbek folk tales. Tickets are sold inside the columns of the main facade. The theatre occupies its own square opposite the Tashkent Palace at 28 Mustafa Kamul Ataturk St (tel. 1339081). To the south at 17 Uzbekistan St, is TSUM, the Central Department Store and barometer of economic progress as both Western and Eastern imports disturb the drab monopoly of Soviet fashion. Opposite Tsum is the Khamar exhibition hall of the Union of Artists of Uzbekistan, a showcase for modern art, at 40 Sharof Rashidov Ave. (tel. 566495) with a good shop downstairs.
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