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Decorative-applied art is represented in almost in every museum of Uzbekistan. But for those who really fancy folk crafts the visit to the Museum of Decorative and Applied Art of Uzbekistan can bring much pleasure. Before 1917 the building belonged to Polovtsev – a big industrialist and connoisseur of traditional oriental architecture. The interior walls of the museum are decorated with ancient ganch (kind of alabaster) carving and magnificent ornamental painting. The exposition of the museum offers the best samples of local folk crafts representing virtually all the regional schools and artistic trends of the 19th – 20th centuries. Here one can see "blue ceramics" of Rishtan and Gurumsaray craftsmen, pottery made by Shakhrisabz, Khiva, Gijduvan, and Tashkent hereditary potters – kulols.
The special sections will tell the visitor about carpet weaving, hand embroidery and famous Bukharan gold embroidery. In some show-rooms of the museum the shimmering of the patterns on copper and brass engraved articles rivals the glittering of gold and precious stones of national jewelry. Part of the museum is assigned for exhibiting hand weaving articles and different elements of clothing and headwear.
However, what makes the Museum of Decorative and Applied Art of Uzbekistan differ from the rest of the museums is the regular organization in the museum halls of various exhibitions and sales of works of art by modern artisans.
The cultural traditions of Uzbekistan have roots in remote past. The best way to feel this connection of the times is to visit the Afrosiab History Museum in Samarkand. It is situated at the approach to the town, on the hills that hide ruins of Marakanda – the ancient capital of Sogdiana. It is known from the historical sources that when Alexander the Great occupied Sogd in 329 B.C., Marakanda was a big well fortified, prosperous town. For centuries there flourished here various crafts. It was one of the main trade centers on the Great Silk Road. It had many beautiful palaces and temples. Marakanda – Samarkand was completely destroyed and burnt to ashes in 1220 by the army of Ghengiz Khan. After these dreadful events the life in the city came to a standstill. However, the new town, modern Samarkand, was built a few kilometers from it.
Exploring the twelve-meter cultural layer of Afrosiab, scientists discovered multiple objects of Sogdian and Hellenic cultures, statues of Zoroastrian goddess Anahita and small terracotta heads of Athena, bronze articles and carved Greek gemmas, arrow heads, antique coins, ceramic and glass vessels. The excavation works carried out in the second half of the last century brought to light monumental paintings in the palace of the Sogdian rulers which date back to the beginning of the 7th century and magnificent stook panels in Samanid’s residential structures of the 9th – 10th centuries. All these treasures are now exhibited in the Afrosiab History Museum. (Continued next week) | 
