The park-museum of miniature art of Kamoliddin Behzod

Kamoliddin Behzod is one of the legendary figures of the Herat miniature school, a world–famous Persian artist whose work began during the reign of Sultan Hussein Baykara, and continues under Muhammad Sheibani Khan and Ismail Safavi. Behzod's skills, which at the age of 23 became the leading artist of the Herat workshop, was formed under the influence of the great Alisher Navoi. Today, Behzod's works are on display in world-renowned halls, including the Metropolitan Museum, Cairo, Tehran, Russian, Algerian, Bodleian and British Libraries.

On December 23, 1997, the Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of Uzbekistan issued a Decree “On commemoration of the 545th anniversary of the artist Kamoliddin Behzod”, according to which a park-museum of miniature art of Kamoliddin Behzod was created, in the garden of which a sculpture of the great artist is presented.

The tasks of the museum today include the study of the cultural heritage of miniature art, the promotion of the work of Kamoliddin Behzod and his students among the general population, the organization of international and republican scientific and practical conferences on decorative, applied and fine arts. 

The museum's exposition was assembled with the assistance of a special commission under the Oliy Majlis and is presented on two floors of the museum. Thanks to the activities of the commission, 37 color slides of Behzod's works from museums and libraries around the world were collected and brought to Uzbekistan. Modern Uzbek miniatures made in the style of famous schools of Bukhara, Samarkand, Isfahan, Herat and Tabriz are also presented. Also, the Asian Society of Calcutta (India) provided a photocopy of a unique letter written by Behzod to his student Kosim Ali. In addition, the works of Behzod's students are presented.

Visitors of the museum can get acquainted with famous manuscripts and lithographs made in the style of “Suls", “Naskh" and “Nastalyk". All of them are decorated with patterns and title pages. Thanks to these manuscripts, it is possible to study the writing of the XII, XV-XX centuries. The museum has manuscripts of famous Sufi mystics and poets Jalaleddin Rumi and Shams Tabrizi. The origin of the Arab tribes and the writing of that time was studied with the help of the manuscript “Tarikh Kaboilal-Arab”, which is also one of the exhibits of the museum. One sheet of “Muskhafi Usmon“ and two sheets of ”Katta Langar Kuroni", written by Habibullo Solih on leather, were donated to the museum fund. The incredibly beautiful panel “Nafosat Olami” by the talented artist M. Sobirov adorns the wall of the museum when climbing to the second floor. 

The Garden Museum is located in the center of Tashkent, not far from the Cosmonauts metro station, which gives visitors the opportunity to enjoy their unique exposition all year round.