By: Annie Guo
Below the capital city of Uzbekistan, Central Asia’s oldest transportation system is filled with life. It is one of two currently operating subway systems in Central Asia, yet the intricacies of the metro have been hidden to the rest of the world until recent years.
The Tashkent Metro was built in 1977, though building began in 1972 and planning even earlier. It was built while Uzbekistan was part of the USSR, and has survived and changed through a variety of cultural periods and styles. It began small, as just one line with nine stops, since expanding to three lines with 29 stops, just over 36 miles. The trains now run regularly from 5 a.m. to midnight, and a single ride costs around five U.S. cents.
However, the metro system had another purpose. It secondarily served as a nuclear bomb shelter. At that time, the Soviet Union feared spying and held a tight control on information. The metro system was considered to be sensitive military information, and thus the metro system was controlled and kept from others.
Since its construction, there has been a ban on photography in the metro and the country has been closed off to travelers. Even with the fall of the USSR in 1991, Uzbekistan remained under the control of Islam Karimov in a dictatorship, and the ban continued. It was not until 2016 that change began to occur with the election of Shavkat Mirziyoyev to government.
Shavkat Mirziyoyev, pushing reform in Uzbekistan, lifted the ban on photography and loosened the travel restrictions as the country became more open. On June 1st, 2018, taking photos became allowed and the world got to see the metro system for the first time.
Tashkent’s metro system was hiding an entire cultural center. The stations are uniquely different, with art of a specific theme in each. Each station has a unique name that often is derived from interpretation of the art, and each station is wholly individual. They are each designed with different lighting and materials—marble, granite, glass, ceramics, alabaster—and decorated with a variety of creative pieces.
There is heavy Soviet influence in many of the stations, left behind even when the Soviet Union collapsed. One famed station is Kosmonavtlar, a space-themed station. This was a nod to Soviet power and the Space Race as it depicts and honours various cosmonauts, considered heroes of the USSR. The station is designed with a futuristic and dreamy theme, and uses the theme and colors of space to realistically portray the Milky Way.
Inside Pakhator Station, mosaics depict cotton and honor agriculture, referencing more Soviet influence in celebration of the working class. In Tashkent Station, a mural hanging above celebrates 2,200 years since the founding of Tashkent. In Oybek Station, the art depicts characters from a poem by the namesake of the station. In Gafur Gulom Station, the Uzbek poet, author and translator is honored with a composition of ceramics and lighting. Even the corridors between stations are decorated and lively, each individually standout.
When Tashkent opened its doors and allowed the rest of the world a look, we found something beautiful. The sheer effort that seems to have been put into each of the stations is wondrous, and the diversity and uniqueness of each station adds to the metro’s beauty. The underground system below Tashkent may not have been open to the public for long, but the people of Uzbekistan have long been using these unconventional outlets of creativity to make the Tashkent Metro a thriving, vibrant cultural center.
Sources:
Chapple, Amos. “Uzbekistan’s Secret Underground – in Pictures.” The Guardian, 24 Aug. 2018, www.theguardian.com/cities/gallery/2018/aug/24/uzbekistan-secret-underground-tashkent-metro-in-pictures. Accessed 9 Dec. 2020.
“Tashkent Metro.” Advantour, www.advantour.com/uzbekistan/tashkent/metro.htm. Accessed 9 Dec. 2020.
Villasana, Danielle, and Stephen Hiltner. “Peer Inside Tashkent’s Art-Filled (and Long-Shrouded) Subway.” The New York Times, 20 Nov. 2019, www.nytimes.com/2019/11/20/travel/tashkent-uzbekistan-subway.html. Accessed 9 Dec. 2020.
Weidman, Taylor. “An Underground World of Soviet Opulence.” BBC, 30 Oct. 2019, www.bbc.com/travel/story/20191029-an-underground-world-of-soviet-opulence. Accessed 9 Dec. 2020.
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