Visions of Uzbekistan

A Visual Exploration

January 8 – February 7, 2014

Opening event on Thursday, January 16 at 4:00 p.m.
Featuring Muzaffar Madrahimov, Deputy Chief of Mission at the Embassy of Uzbekistan and Marlene Laruelle, Director of the Central Asia Program, IERES

Uzbekistan is located in the heart of Central Asia, neighboring world civilizations such as China, Persia, and India, and connected to the Turkic world and to Europe via Russia. The territory of modern Uzbekistan hosted the prestigious ancient civilizations of Bactria, Sogdiana, Parthia, and Khorezm, and was traversed by caravans carrying precious silk, gold, porcelain, and spices along the Great Silk Road. These ancient civilizations invented sophisticated irrigation techniques, inspired the canons of Islamic culture in the 9th-10th centuries, and were at the center of a vast empire created by Tamerlane in the 15th century. They made major contributions to science and literature through geniuses such as Avicenna, Alisher Navoi, Ulugbek, Al-Khorezmi, Al-Beruni, Al-Farghoni, Imam Al-Bukhary, and others. Present-day Uzbekistan benefits from this past, offering the most accomplished architectural heritage in Central Asia. Since the country’s independence in 1991, Uzbek society aims to combine modernity with the rediscovery of its past and to integrate its historical legacy into a larger, globalized framework. The photo exhibition Visions of Uzbekistan reflects both the ancient culture and the modern life of the Uzbek people and introduces the culture of Uzbekistan to the United States audience.