Tashkent: Restoration work was carried out at the Afrosiab Museum by specialists from the Korean Cultural Heritage Foundation.
About US$33,000 was spent on building renovations. The finishing work was carried out by the Cultural Heritage Administration (CHA), the Korea Cultural Heritage Foundation (KCHF) and the Cultural Heritage Agency of Uzbekistan, as well as other organizations.
During the restoration, the exhibition hall, video room and hall were updated on the first floor of the museum. The ceiling and roof on the second floor were also replaced. The grand opening of the museum will take place in March 2024.
Entrance to the museum will be free for two days. It will not be a mistake to say that the Afrosiab Museum is a mirror of the life and history of ancient Samarkand. Its opening was timed to coincide with the celebration of the 2500th anniversary of Samarkand.
The museum is a unique archaeological monument, a kind of “piggy bank” of the cultural life of the people, which is replenished with various artifacts to this day. The museum is located in the northern part of Samarkand behind the central bazaar, next to the hills of the ancient settlement of Afrosiab.
The exhibition presents unique finds made during archaeological excavations of the ancient settlement, each of which belongs to a different period in the history of Afrosiab. These include assuaries, fragments of ancient swords, knives, arrows, coins, ceramics, as well as parts of the frescoes of the Samarkand Palace, belonging to the Ikhshid dynasty (V-VIII centuries).
At the moment, the museum’s exhibition exceeds 2,000 unique exhibits, and their number continues to increase.
