2023-07-29 05:47:48
Prefabricated buildings line the highways of the Uzbek capital of Tashkent with its two million inhabitants. They are the most beautiful in the world. Their existence goes back to an accident. In 1966 a severe earthquake shook the city. Only a few people died, but the old town was almost completely destroyed. 35,000 traditional buildings fell victim to the quake, which was followed by more than 30 aftershocks.
Leonid Brezhnev, then General Secretary of the CPSU, immediately flew to Uzbekistan, the Soviet republics sent construction workers, architects and engineers to help build new houses. The reconstruction of Tashkent was a great project of solidarity, of friendship between peoples, even if it may have been ordered. Moscow’s striving for modernization, which certainly had a colonial character, even if it related to the communist utopia, extended to all Central Asian republics of the Soviet Union. But the tabula rasa in Tashkent caused by the earthquake was a unique opportunity that enabled radical access.
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The Arena Theater near Turkestan Palace, built in the 1990s Armin Linke
Built in the 1980s, the helio complex just outside of Tashkent impresses with its space look. Grace
Im Arena-TheaterArmin Linke
At the House of Deputies of the Communist Party of the Soviet Republic of UzbekistanArmin Linke
Mosaic on the facade of the TV Tower in TashkentArmin Linke
The Tashkent buildings made of prefabricated parts are unique because the builders incorporated local features that complement the standardized design, making it unique. These are façade constructions that look like a decorative pattern and at the same time function as sun protection in what was then the southernmost metropolis of the Soviet Union. The State Museum of the History of Uzbekistan, formerly the Lenin Museum, is a prime example.
The Sharsky brothers’ mosaics in Tashkent
Mosaics shine on house walls and in entrances, which take up Uzbek motifs that can also be found on traditional clothing. They are attributed to the little-known Scharsky brothers. Pjotr, Aleksandr and Nikolai Sharsky, born to a Russian émigré family in France, came to the city after the earthquake and over 30 years created about 200 mosaics, including socialist murals or pictures inspired by the Soviet enthusiasm for space. An example of this is a series of murals in which the brothers depict figures in space suits mixed with oriental ornamentation
The colonial gesture of power has been broken, the prefabricated buildings in Tashkent are evidence of transcultural architecture, hybrids of Soviet modernization efforts and national identity. The architect Philipp Meuser coined the term seismic architecture for this. “Seismic Architecture” is the title of his 2016 book on housing and architecture in the Uzbek capital.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, this architectural legacy was neglected and some was even demolished. But now the country is becoming aware of this treasure. This is thanks to the Arts & Culture Development Foundation of Uzbekistan, established in 2017. Among other things, their employees conducted interviews with all the surviving builders who were involved in the reconstruction. A conference is planned for October.
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