Painted ceilings
Carved and coloured.
Jean-Pierre Dalbéra from Paris, France — CC BY 2.0 · Jean-Pierre Dalbéra from Paris, France — CC BY 2.0 · Enric — CC BY 4.0 · Mupapap29 — CC BY-SA 4.0 · LBM1948 — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Enric — CC BY 4.0 · Miss Kamola — CC0 · Miss Kamola — CC0
Uzbekistan's State Museum of Applied Arts occupies a remarkable late 19th-century mansion known as the Polovtsov House, after the Russian diplomat Alexander Polovtsov. Its interiors were reworked in Oriental style by master craftsmen from Tashkent, Bukhara, Khiva and Rishtan. The building is the star: painted and carved wooden ceilings, walls of carved plaster (ganch), blue tilework and a hall with a pool at its centre, among the finest showcases of Uzbek decorative art. Founded in 1937 as a handicrafts exhibition, the museum now holds more than 4,000 pieces: carved wood, ceramics, suzani embroideries, silk ikat, traditional skullcaps, jewellery, carpets and musical instruments. Tickets are about 40,000 som, with a possible extra fee for photography, per visitor guides. It is open daily from 9 am to 6 pm, and the ticket desk closes an hour earlier.
Carved and coloured.
Silk and embroidery.
On the walls.
15 Rakatboshi Street, Tashkent
The building itself, with its painted ceilings and carved plaster, followed by suzani embroidery, ikat silk, ceramics and skullcaps.
