Getting There
The Earthquake Memorial in Tashkent is located at the Sharaf Rashidov and Abdulla Qadiri streets intersection, in the very place where the devastating earthquake epicenter was on April 26, 1966. You can get to the monument by metro, the nearest stations are Abdulla Qadiri and Minor. It takes a few minutes to walk from the stations to the destination.
In the immediate vicinity of the memorial there is a bus stop with the same name – Memorial Muzhestvo with buses No. 10 and 17 running regularly. One can also get to the sight by taxi using services of the in MyTaxi, Benefit Trade Group, Taxi 052, Taxi Perevozchik, Taxi park # 6, Alfa Taxi and many other companies. You can hail a taxi from the street or call one in advance.
What to Expect
Earthquake Memorial is in the form of a granite cube displaying the time (5:22am) of the first tremor while an Uzbek man shields a woman and child from the earth opening up before them.
The zig-zag crack from the spall of the cube goes to pedestal with a woman cuddling a child. With one hand she does a pushing movement as if protecting the infant from harm. The male figure depicted in expressive jerk symbolizes courage. Bronze base of complex shape symbolizes the destruction caused by the Tashkent earthquake. Seven narrow lanes lead to the low marble pedestal. The unusual shape of the statue’s plinth is supposed to symbolize the earthquake’s destruction. The lanes lead to 14 stellas, on which through-bronze reliefs are fixed; they depict the builders restoring Tashkent. Stellas symbolize the assistance rendered by the fraternal republics of Uzbekistan.
History
In 1966, on April 26, Tashkent suffered a real big tragedy. At about half past five in the morning, many residents of the city were awakened by a terrible frightening rumble that emanated from the ground. Everything around was shaking from the strongest tremors, destroying literally everything by the minute. Frightened city people witnessed the collapse of numerous houses and structures, people were forced to flee their own homes.
The population of the city was then forced to live in temporary tents for some time. In the following days, tremors were repeated over and over again many times, their total number exceeded a thousand. Despite the fact that residents of the city are accustomed to periodically recurring mild earthquakes, this incident seriously frightened them and left behind devastating consequences.
The earthquake magnitude exceeded 8 points, more than half of the city was destroyed. The epicenter of the earthquake was in the central part of Tashkent. The disaster destroyed more than two million square meters of living space and various buildings and structures. It should be noted that during the earthquake not a single fact of looting was recorded.
Facilities Available
- Museum of Olympic Glory
- Cafe Olympia
- Cafe Al Aziz
- PLOV Lounge & Banquet Hall Restaurant
- Ziraat Bank Uzbekistan
- Turkiston Palace Summer Concert Hall
