The Bukhara Gallery

Bukhara, one of the oldest cities in Central Asia, on the territory of which there are many historical monuments and masterpieces of medieval architecture. The guests of the city will not have enough for several weeks to enjoy the splendor of all the structures of the Bukhara region. However, among the ancient complexes there are also relatively modern ones that reflect the national Uzbek flavor. One of these institutions is the building of the Fine Art Gallery of Bukhara.

The history of the architectural monument, where the gallery is located today, begins in 1912, when a building was built for a branch of the Russian Azov-Don Bank in Bukhara at the expense of the famous Russian philanthropist, millionaire and manufactory adviser Savva Morozov. The architects of the project were Margulis and Sakovich. The place for the construction was chosen in the center of Bukhara, between the shopping domes Toki Sarrafon and Toki Telpak Furushon. The two-storey trapezoidal building was built near the Shokhrud Canal. The bank was built of Russian burnt brick, windows and doors were installed in the arched openings of the walls, and the building project also included two basements and two courtyards. 

After the Bukhara Revolution in 1920, it was decided to organize a museum in the bank building. So, on November 8, 1922, the Bukhara State Museum was opened. The materials for the museum's exposition were valuable exhibits that once decorated the walls of the palaces of the Bukhara emirs, handwritten materials of supporters of the Jadid movement. Later, the museum was disbanded more than once, and the building was given first to the management of a bank, and then a shopping center. 

In 1982, the building was transferred to the management of the Bukhara State Museum Reserve. The following year, the Bukhara Museum of Fine Arts was opened here. The museum's exposition was presented on the ground floor, and the walls of the second floor were decorated with photocopies of wall paintings and frescoes of decorative ornaments, as well as art works of the palaces of the emirs of Bukhara in the city of Varakhsha. Many of the artifacts and frescoes dated back to the VI-VII centuries AD.

In 1985, the museum received the official name and status of the Bukhara Museum of Fine Arts, where today you can find paintings by famous artists. The works of Pavel Petrovich Benkov, who has lived, taught and created works of art in Samarkand since 1928, as well as visited Khiva and Bukhara, occupy a special place in the museum. He was able to accurately and subtly convey the national flavor of the cities of Uzbekistan and its inhabitants. The pearls of the Bukhara Gallery are his works, such as “Tajik with a bowl", “Bukhara’s official", “Portrait of a Tajik" and many other of his works. 

In addition, the gallery presents works by talented artists Kurzin, Kashina, Tansykbayev, Babayev, Sobolev-Melekhov, Yurenev and others.