State Museum of Arts of Uzbekistan, Tashkent

The museum’s origins are unusual. Grand Duke Nikolai Konstantinovich Romanov (1850–1918), a grandson of Tsar Nicholas I, was exiled to Tashkent in 1881 after a scandal at the imperial court in St Petersburg. He spent the rest of his life there, investing in irrigation projects, building canals and businesses, and becoming one of the city’s most colourful figures. He built a palace in the centre of Tashkent, filled with a large collection of paintings, sculpture and objects.

After his death in 1918, his collection was nationalised and became the core of a new art museum, one of the first in Central Asia. His palace, which still stands near Amir Timur Square, is used for official receptions and is not usually open to the public, but it can be seen from outside.

The museum moved to its present building, a modern block, in the 1970s, and its collection grew to include tens of thousands of works. Highlights on display include:

• Russian painting of the 18th–20th centuries, including paintings of Central Asia by Russian artists who travelled in Turkestan.
• Western European art: paintings and sculpture from Italy, the Netherlands, France and other countries, many from the grand duke’s collection.
• Uzbek art of the 20th century, including painters who depicted the life and landscapes of Uzbekistan, and the so-called Turkestan avant-garde of the 1920s–1930s, artists who combined modern European styles with local subjects.
• Applied arts: suzani, ceramics, carved wood, ganch and jewellery.
• Ancient art: Buddhist sculpture and wall paintings from southern Uzbekistan, Sogdian and early medieval pieces.
• Asian art: objects from China, Japan and India.

Displays change, and not all sections may be open at any time, as parts of the museum have been under renovation.

If you are particularly interested in the Turkestan avant-garde, the greatest collection is at the Savitsky Museum in Nukus, Karakalpakstan, which saved thousands of works banned in the Soviet era. The State Museum of Arts in Tashkent gives a good overview and a chance to see Uzbek painting alongside Russian and European art. For crafts, the Museum of Applied Arts is the better choice.

Grand Duke Nikolai Konstantinovich left a lasting mark on Tashkent beyond the museum. He financed irrigation canals in the Hungry Steppe, south-west of the city, bringing water to land that had been desert, and founded settlements there. In Tashkent he ran businesses, including a cinema and a photography studio, and was known for his eccentric life. His palace, with its towers and stone decoration, is one of the most distinctive buildings of the tsarist era in the city. His story, of a member of the imperial family who turned exile into a new life on the edge of the empire, is told in the museum.

The collection he brought from St Petersburg was large and varied, and its arrival in Tashkent made the city one of the first in Central Asia with a public art collection of European standard.

Location: in central Tashkent, on Amir Timur Avenue south of Amir Timur Square.

Metro: Kosmonavtlar or Oybek stations, a short walk. See the Tashkent metro.

Tickets: an entrance fee; photography may cost extra.

Opening hours: usually closed one day a week; check before you go, as renovation work may affect opening.

Time needed: 1–1.5 hours.

Combine with: the State Museum of History, the Amir Timur Museum and the Museum of Applied Arts for a full museum day.