May 16 More monuments! This time in Tashkent.

This archway in the National Square is adorned with storks: they are the bringers of peace and stability.

We had hoped to travel right across Central Asia by train or car but the leg between Almaty and Tashkent just wouldn't work so we flew. We were met at the airport by our guide for Tashkent, the capital and largest city of Uzbekistan, and after checking into our hotel we walked!   We have been so impressed with our guides and their knowledge and passion for their cities. Tashkent was no different.

One of the first stops was to an area and monuments dedicated to the 1966 earthquake. The square is dominated by an imposing statue of a man protectng his family. In front of that is beautiful granite block broken in two. On one face is a half clock which shows when the city clock stopped - 5:23am when the earthquake struck and beside that is a symbolic fractured pavement.

The Earthquake struck in the early hours of the morning on 26 April 1966

Tashkent feels like a new city because much of it was rebuilt after the devastating earthquake in 1966 which killed 200 people and left 300,000 homeless. Tashkent, meaning City of Stone (I was told this referred to their use of stones for defence), has little of its ancient structures remaining. This is  the result of manmade as well as natural upheavals - the earthquake of 1966, but also invaders including Genghis Khan who sacked the city in C13th. And the Persians before that in C8th when the region’s ‘conversed’ to Islam. Not to mention the Russians from the C20th which brought both positives and negatives. For instance during WWII Uzbekistan lost hundreds of thousands of young men to the Russian Army as well as many people who died of starvation because food was sent to the front for the war effort! At that time, there was also a huge influx of refugees and orphans from Europe and Eurasia fleeing the war and its horrendous displacement. Yet the Uzbeks survive and the city grows. At one time, it was an important trading post along the Silk Road. 

The beautiful columns and decorations were carved from sandalwood 

Such a practical addition to the doorway!

Call to prayer times were displayed in a moving stream across this entrance

We saw lots of mosques - it’s rather like the circuit of churches pwoplw do in Europe. As with those churches there is a lot of history embedded in these structures and in the telling of stories. What caught my eye on the front of one of the osques was an electronic display showing the ‘call to prayer’ times moving across a thin screen over the entrance. Clever idea!

This building houses the oldest known Koran - it’s huge. A national treasure 

On the tourist front, we saw the oldest Koran which was quite amazing, some beautiful mosques, madressa, mausoleums and monuments and of course parks and gardens. There is a reverence for their past and a strong determination to grow. Yet many areas appear in fairly poor condition and the average wage seems extremely low. However ...... It's a recoverng city.