Tashkent museums: what to see, how long to stay and when they open

In one Tashkent day you can stand in front of a Buddha carved in the 1st–2nd century, a Qur’an copied in the 7th and a steam engine built in 1914. The Tashkent museums are spread across the city, and two of them have just reopened after long renovations, so this is a good autumn to see them.

We are a Tashkent company and these are the museums we take our own guests to: what to see in each, how long to stay and how to fit them into one or two days. Opening days and prices are given where we have checked them for October 2026.

The State Museum of History of Uzbekistan

If you see one museum in Tashkent, make it this one. It was founded in 1876 and turned 150 this October; we wrote about the anniversary conference. The museum closed in June 2024 and reopened on 24 July 2026. Its white building of 1970, once the Lenin Museum, is one of the ten parts of Tashkent modernism on the UNESCO list.

The renovation changed the inside completely. The collection, more than 350,000 objects, is now told in 20 themed zones instead of nine departments. The main story starts on the third floor, in 11 sections from the first people to the Golden Age of the East. The fourth floor carries it from the 16th century to independence, with a children’s interactive zone.

• The oldest finds: stone tools from the Selungur cave, more than a million years old, and a reconstruction of the Neanderthal child from the Teshik-Tash grotto.
• The Buddhist south: a Buddha statue of the 1st–2nd century and finds from Fayaz Tepe and Kara Tepe near Termez, with wall paintings and Kushan coins. The rest of that story is in our guide to Termez.
• The Silk Road cities: wall paintings from Afrasiyab, Samanid and Timurid coins, armour, calligraphy and glazed ceramics.
• The last centuries: gold-embroidered robes from the emir’s palace in Bukhara, suzani of the Nurata and Shakhrisabz schools and silver jewellery.

Visiting. Doors open at 10:00; we confirm the weekly day off when we plan your day. A ticket for a foreign adult costs 100,000 som. Tours are given in Uzbek, Russian and English. There are ramps and lifts, a café and a bookshop. Allow an hour and a half to two hours.

The Museum of Applied Arts

The building is the first exhibit. In 1896 the diplomat Alexander Polovtsov bought a merchant’s house on a quiet street and had it rebuilt with local decoration: carved wood, painted ceilings and carved ganch plaster by the best masters of the day. In 1909 he gave the house to the city, and since 1937 it has been a museum of crafts. Look up as often as you look into the cases.

The collection holds more than 7,000 pieces: embroidery, skullcaps, jewellery, carpets, ceramics, chased metal, knives and textiles. It is arranged in three groups: work in the old traditions, the masters of the 20th century and craftspeople working today. A big oak shades the courtyard, and the museum has its own craft centre and shop.

We bring guests here before Samarkand and Bukhara: after an hour among suzani and ceramics, you recognise good work at the bazaar. Allow about an hour. The museum is on Rakatboshi Street in the centre, and it is part of our Tashkent highlights tour.

The State Museum of Arts: closed for reconstruction

The State Museum of Arts of Uzbekistan is also on the UNESCO list of Tashkent modernism, and its collection includes old suzani from Bukhara and Nurata and paintings of the avant-garde. In 2024 some of those paintings travelled to Florence and Venice together with works from the Savitsky Museum in Nukus.

In October 2026 the building is closed for reconstruction, and the opening date will be announced when the work is finished. A branch is also planned in the Romanov Palace, where the museum was housed from 1918 to 1935, with a permanent display of about 300 works. Until then, see the building from the outside on a walk along Amir Timur Avenue.

The Amir Timur Museum

The State Museum of the History of the Temurids opened in 1996 under a blue dome on Amir Timur Square. In February 2026 it closed for a full reconstruction, and in spring it reopened with a new exhibition for the 690th anniversary of Timur’s birth.

The ground floor is about Timur himself: how he ruled, fought, negotiated and built. Upstairs the Timurid age is shown with screens, 3D maps and historical figures brought to life by computer, alongside weapons of the period, manuscripts, miniatures and archaeological finds. Children get their own room with history games and chess. Allow 45 minutes to an hour, then walk out into the square.

Timur himself is buried in Samarkand: our article on Gur-e-Amir tells the story of the mausoleum.

The Center of Islamic Civilization

Tashkent’s newest museum opened in March 2026 next to Hazrati Imam, under a dome 65 metres high. Its halls run from Sogdiana to the Timurids, and in the Qur’an Hall lies the 7th-century Mushaf of Uthman. It is open daily from 9:00 to 22:00. A two-hour ticket for a foreign adult costs 425,000 som with an audio guide; book a time slot ahead.

Allow two to three hours. Everything else you need is in our guide to the Center of Islamic Civilization.

The Museum of Railway Techniques

This is the museum children remember. It opened on 4 August 1989, for the 100th anniversary of the first railways in Central Asia, and it is an open-air park next to Tashkent’s main station, by the Toshkent metro stop. Steam, diesel and electric locomotives stand in rows, with passenger and freight carriages and repair machines, brought from Russia, Czechoslovakia, Germany, Poland and the United States.

Look for the OV engine of 1914, the oldest in the park, and the P36, the most powerful steam locomotive here at about 3,000 horsepower. Most exhibits can be touched and climbed, cabs included. Old carriages hold a small indoor display of train models, signals, maps and railway uniforms, and a sightseeing train with a guide runs through the collection.

Visiting. Open Wednesday to Sunday, 9:00 to 18:00; closed on Mondays and Tuesdays. Allow an hour, more with children. If you leave Tashkent by train, the museum fits neatly into the morning before departure. More ideas for families are in Uzbekistan with kids.

The metro: a museum you ride

The cheapest museum ticket in Tashkent is a metro fare. Each station on the three underground lines was designed as a hall of its own: chandeliers at Mustaqillik Maydoni, ceramic panels from the poems of Navoi at Alisher Navoi, cosmonaut medallions at Kosmonavtlar, the only metro station on the UNESCO list. Photography is allowed.

One fare covers the whole ride as long as you stay inside the gates. Our station-by-station route is in the Tashkent metro.

How to plan the museums of Tashkent

Museum	What not to miss	Allow	Open
State Museum of History	Fayaz Tepe Buddha, Afrasiyab paintings, emir’s robes	1.5–2 hours	From 10:00
Museum of Applied Arts	The Polovtsov house itself, suzani, ceramics	1 hour	Confirm on the day
Amir Timur Museum	The new exhibition on Timur and the Timurids	45 minutes–1 hour	Confirm on the day
Center of Islamic Civilization	The Mushaf of Uthman, the dome	2–3 hours	Daily, 9:00–22:00
Museum of Railway Techniques	The 1914 engine, climbing into the cabs	1 hour	Wed–Sun, 9:00–18:00
Metro	Alisher Navoi, Kosmonavtlar, Mustaqillik Maydoni	1.5 hours	Every day, from 5:00
State Museum of Arts	Closed for reconstruction	From outside	Closed

One museum day. The Museum of History at 10:00, lunch, the Museum of Applied Arts in the afternoon. The Center of Islamic Civilization stays open until 22:00, so end there in the evening, or swap it for our three-hour evening walk with a guide through Tashkent City, Seoul Mun and Magic City.

A second morning. The Amir Timur Museum and the square, then a metro ride to the railway museum. To see how museums fit with the old city and the bazaar, use Tashkent in 1 or 2 days and Tashkent in 3 days.

With a guide. Our Tashkent highlights tour includes the Museum of Applied Arts; the two-day Tashkent Modernism tour starts at the Museum of History. If archaeology is your reason to come, Sogdiana Unearthed begins in the Museum of History and continues to Afrasiyab: see museums of Samarkand and Bukhara. The museums are spread out, so a car with a driver saves the most time.

In short

• Start with the State Museum of History: reopened in July 2026, 150 years old, 100,000 som for a foreign adult.
• The Museum of Applied Arts is the best hour to spend before you shop for crafts.
• The Amir Timur Museum reopened in 2026 with a new exhibition; the Museum of Arts is closed for reconstruction.
• The Center of Islamic Civilization is open daily until 22:00; book a time slot.
• Children: the railway museum (Wednesday to Sunday) and a ride on the metro.