One of the most fascinating and educational places in Tashkent is the State Museum of Applied Arts and the History of Craftsmanship of Uzbekistan. The museum houses over 7,000 examples of folk applied art: embroidery, tubeteikas, jewellery, carpets, ceramics, chased metalwork, knives, textiles, and other masterpieces of craftsmanship.

The exhibits are conditionally divided into three groups: works based on ancient traditions, works by 20th-century masters, and works by contemporary artisans.

Many Tashkent residents were surprised to learn that in 2024 the museum was included in the list of cultural heritage sites as a monument of modernism, since everyone knows the building dates to the late 19th century. However, in the 1960s a decision was made to expand the museum. The reconstruction was designed by architects U. Abdullaev and M. Ilkhamov, with façade artist N. Dolidze.

The old Polovtsev House was successfully integrated into the new museum appearance: a wing for textiles and clothing was added on the right, a craftsmanship centre and souvenir shop on the left, and the entrance was originally designed. Once visitors enter the inner courtyard, they perceive the building as a whole, without visually separating old and new parts. At the beginning of this century the museum underwent another reconstruction that preserved the main modernist ideas laid down by the authors.

All the museum’s exhibits are unique, but the building itself and its history are no less captivating.

Before the revolution this was a lane off Shelkovichnaya Street (later Germana Lopatina Street, now Yunus Rajabi Street); after the revolution it became Shpilkov Street in honour of a commissar shot during the Osipov revolt, and today it is Rakatboshi Street.

The house was built by merchant and commercial counsellor Nikolai Ivanovich Ivanov near his own brewery.

In 1896 Ivanov sold the house to diplomat Alexander Alexandrovich Polovtsev, an official for special assignments at the Ministry of Internal Affairs, who had been sent to study the state of resettlement affairs in Central Asia and the Transcaucasus. The house was rebuilt in an oriental style — a rare combination of Russian architecture with local decorative elements. The best masters decorated the walls with ganch, installed carved wooden columns, and painted walls and ceilings with ornaments.

In 1909 Polovtsev donated his house to the city. During World War I it served as barracks for captured Austrian officers. In the 1930s the mansion became an orphanage for Kazakh children fleeing famine. From 1937 it housed the Museum of Handicrafts, and in 1960 it became the “Permanent Exhibition of Applied Arts of Uzbekistan”.

In 1997 the museum came under the Ministry of Culture and received the status of the State Museum of Applied Arts. On 20 December 2017 a government resolution “On the establishment of the State Museum of the History of Applied Arts and Craftsmanship of Uzbekistan” clarified the museum’s name and tasks.

Few people remember all the historical details, but old Tashkent residents still affectionately call it “Polovtsev House”.

All the twists and turns of this remarkable building are remembered by the huge oak tree growing in the museum courtyard — be sure to stroke this veteran tree when you visit.

Address: 15 Rakatboshi Street.