Nukus
 Karakalpaktan, being a part of Uzbekistan, is an autonomous republic. Its territory for the most part encompasses Usturt plateau, Kyzyl-Kum Desert and the Aral Sea and it has a rich history and culture manifested by many interesting monuments. Karakalpakstan is the homeland of many great medieval scientists: Al-Beruni and Al-Khorezmi, Najmiddin Kubro. In the 19th – early 20th centuries the outstanding poets Ajiniyaz and Berdak used to live and compose here. The capital of Karakalpakstan is the city of Nukus. The first records about the city are dated from the second half of the 19th century. At that period of time it was a village made up by rows of yurts (tents in which nomads live) surrounded by high clay fence. Armin Vamberi, the scientist from Hungary, who travelled through the country in 1883, in his accounts of the trip mentioned Nukus fortress located on the Amudarya bank. In 1932 Nukus achieved the status of a city, while in 1939 it was proclaimed the capital of Karakalpakstan. Everyone who visits Nukus will certainly call at the Art Museum, named after its founder and first director Igor Savitskiy. The collection of the Museum possess more than 90 000 exhibits, including a collection of Russian vanguard, and also fine arts of Uzbekistan, national applied art of Karekalpakstan, the art of Ancient Khoresm which was filled up with delightful copies of a number of exhibits of the Paris Louvre. Famous Russian museum in St. Petersburg and the Tretyakov gallery in Moscow would envy many axhebits which are in the Nukus Museum. According to foreign experts, the collection of the Museum is the best in the Asian region. |
