Evangelical Lutheran Church

The history of the only Lutheran church in Uzbekistan dates back more than a hundred years. The Evangelical Lutheran Church of the Uzbek diocese, located in the center of Tashkent, holds services in Russian and German every Sunday among the parishioners.

The history of the Church begins in the XIX century, when the famous Evangelical Lutheran preacher K.H. Fruauf visited the Turkestan region and on October 10, 1877, at a public council chaired by A. Weinberg, it was decided to create an Evangelical Lutheran church and appoint a pastor to the region. The church was built at the expense of the famous doctor, researcher, public figure and philanthropist Hieronymus Ivanovich Krause, who for a long time was one of the chairmen of the Church Council. The project of the building in the Neo-Gothic style, built of brown-yellow brick, was developed by a representative of the famous dynasty of architects and artists, the talented A.L. Benois. For the construction of the roof and carpentry work, a talented master Jacob Zatler came to Tashkent together with the whole family. On September 26, 1892, Justus Justusovich Jurgenson was appointed to the post of pastor.

Thus, the church was built in 1896, and despite the fact that its interior decoration was not yet completed, it was consecrated in the same year. The lack of interior decoration also did not prevent the holding of irregular services, and regular services began on October 3, 1899. 

With the advent of Soviet power, the church lost its primary importance and was used as a warehouse for a long time. In 1970, the Church building was transferred to the State Conservatory of Uzbekistan, which restored the church, which was damaged after the earthquake of 1966. The conservatory used the church as an opera studio. An organ was installed here, which made it possible to hold concerts of opera performers. And only in the 1990s, the building was again returned to the Evangelical Lutheran community, which today amounts to a little more than three hundred people. 

The entrance to the Church is decorated with wooden gates with patterns on them. Starting from the warm Tashkent spring and until late autumn, the church building is wrapped in ivy, which makes the landscape more attractive. The garden around the building is planted with century-old sycamore trees.

Inside there is a very modestly decorated hall with a capacity of 100-120 people, the walls of which are decorated with stands with the history of the Tashkent church. One of the main decorations of the hall is the windows with stained glass windows, which make the hall shimmer with all the colors of the rainbow in sunny weather. Opposite the entrance, in the center, there is an altar, above which is a carpet with the image of a pastor with sheep. To the right of the altar is the pastor's closet, where there are special clothes for worship and books. The walls are crowned with portraits of two famous pastors in the history of the church – Justus Jurgenson and Heinrich Behrendts. 

Unlike the dioceses of other churches, it is not customary for Lutherans to worship icons and relics, therefore, in the decoration of the church there are only images of Christ and the apostles. You can also see a crucifix, a sacred fire and candles. 

Services are often conducted using an organ, however, this is not the organ that was installed by the Conservatory. 

Today the church belongs to the German Cultural Center, holds Sunday and festive services.