The wealth of the city
“Of course, modernity does not tell us what the old city looked like just 100 years ago. Historically, Tashkent is two fundamentally different cities: a “European” city built according to a strict plan and the old city – built haphazardly, haphazardly over the centuries – alleys, dead ends, small, often winding streets, one-story clay houses with flat roofs, on which red poppies bloom in the spring. “guldasta,” – Boris Golender embarks on a tour organized by the Tashkent community of urban explorers X-Places.
The bus departs from the Uzbekistan hotel. Outside the windows, most of the buildings are modern, but thanks to the guide's stories, the imagination begins to paint pictures of Tashkent's antiquity. The listener crosses the border of the old and new cities through the ancient Ankhor canal, on the right side of which there is a fortress wall with a gate. Behind them stretched the street Tash-kucha, today it bears the name of Alisher Navoi, famous poet and statesman of the Timurid era (a dynasty that ruled vast territories in Central Asia from the 70s of the 14th century to the beginning of the 16th century – ). On the corner of Tashkent's old citadel, the 16th-century Kukeldash madrasah is still preserved, behind which is the dome of one of Asia's oldest bazaars – Chorsu. And although this dome was designed in modern Soviet times, the spirit of an oriental bazaar still reigns here, just like hundreds of years ago.
“Tashkent was a city with a market and this market was protected by an old fortress. And in pre-revolutionary times it was the largest city in the region, surpassing Samarkand, Bukhara and Kokand in population. Three roads converged here – the northern route from Russia, the eastern route – the Great Silk Road and the southern route – the entrance to the interior of Central Asia,” notes the local historian.
In his excursions and books, Boris Anatolyevich talks about different eras of Tashkent, but all his works are united by one thing – respect for those who left their mark on the history of Tashkent. “Of course, the main wealth of the city is the people who live in it. Tashkent's famous personality; the concept of “the spirit of Tashkent”, has become a household word, all due to the special atmosphere of city life. It is not without reason that it is said that anyone who has visited our city at least once will never forget it and will certainly return here”, he wrote in the book “My Gentlemen of Tashkent”, where the city's history is collected in the biographies of its famous citizens.
Cultural codes of the Great Silk Road
Boris Golender was born in Tashkent in 1947. His parents met during the Great Patriotic War: his father was a military pilot, his mother, with the rank of lieutenant in the medical industry, worked as a regimental doctor. The local historian's ancient ancestors also had an equally vivid biography: his great-grandfather was a non-commissioned officer of the Russian Imperial Army who went to Turkestan; grandfather – participant in most revolutionary events in Tashkent, one of the heads of security services in the first years of Soviet power.
The boy grew up in the house of his grandfather, who was often visited by his comrades – witnesses of the great and terrible events of the first half of the 20th century. It was their stories and memories that awakened his interest in the past. “They were people who participated in wars and revolutions, were given high titles, reminisced about the past. As a child, I listened to their stories very carefully. For me, it was not about studying textbooks but the accounts of living witnesses. But then I started looking for books,” the local historian recalled.
According to him, Tashkent of that time resembled the resort cities of southern Russia – extremely green and fresh, mostly one-story, decorated with fine examples of European architecture in different styles, while retaining the flavor and charm of the East, especially in the old part.
The April 26, 1966 earthquake changed the face of the city but not its spirit. As Boris Anatolyevich notes, in Tashkent, despite the disaster, there was no looting. Some residents who lost their homes had to spend the night in tents; The Golender family remained in their apartment in Chilanzar subdivision, far from the epicenter. Experts and volunteers from all over the Soviet Union organized towns from construction trailers where life was in full swing. And after days of dusty and hot work, a quiet night falls on the streets, construction equipment is silent, and the city dreams of its revival.
“Many volunteers came to Tashkent, young men and women who wanted to make a difference. They lived in towns where public events took place, artists performed, shops came. Representatives of each city had its own town – the town of Leningrad was located near our house in Chilanzar 6 district. Terrible dust, tremors lasted all summer,” Boris Golender recalls. According to him, by the fall, residents began to be moved into the first new homes, and by the early 1970s, the city's housing supply had been restored.
The renewed Tashkent surprises with its majesty and scale, while continuing to retain its Asian and homely flavor. Buildings built in the style of Soviet modernism are often decorated with architectural elements reminiscent of the ancient Orient – for example, grids with a “panjara” pattern, which still protect the Uzbekistan Hotel from the sun. Boris Anatolyevich is confident that this architecture determines the face of modern Tashkent, as it takes into account its historical and cultural context.
According to Golender, modern architecture often changes cities beyond recognition, and today there are almost no places left that retain the ancient atmosphere. At the same time, the local historian notes that Tashkent has changed throughout its history, and this is probably where its vitality lies. Only one thing remains unchanged there – the kindness, warmth and hospitality of the Uzbeks and other peoples living here, bearers of the cultural traditions of the Great Silk Road.
“People who come here are infected by this friendliness and openness. This is the charm of Tashkent and all of Uzbekistan, besides the ancient history associated everywhere here, the diversity of culture, arts and crafts, music, cuisine,” the researcher reflects. In Boris Anatolyevich's homeland, there are still many places that warm his soul and memories. And when asked about his nationality, Golender firmly replied: “I am a citizen of Tashkent. Of course. It cannot be said otherwise.”
History of Yesenin Museum
One of the iconic places in Tashkent for Boris Golender is the Sergei Yesenin Museum, whose construction he directly participated in and where he currently works as a research assistant and leads excursions. The history of the museum began with the celebration of the poet's 80th birthday, organized by a club of lovers of literature and art. Members of the community, of which Boris Anatolyevich was a member, prepared an exhibition at bookstore No. 1 on Pushkinskaya Street (modern Independence Avenue – author's note). About 20–30 visitors were expected to arrive but suddenly about 300 people appeared.
“What should we do? Where should we put them? You can't kick people out, but we even prepared a report,” the local historian recalled. According to him, this situation was quickly resolved by the president of their club, Donat Mukhin, a veteran of the Great Patriotic War, a colonel who prepared documents for the Nuremberg trials on Nazi crimes in Western Ukraine. He found an empty hall in the Officers' House, and the claimants organized the transfer of all the guests there.
“And so we organized this event,” Goldender continued. “There I first saw Tatyana Sergeevna, Yesenin's daughter; I didn't even know that she lived with us in Tashkent. And when people visited our exhibition, they began to say that it was necessary to create a museum about the poet.” The organizers have been going through the authorities for about six years. During this time, they tried to organize a traveling exhibition about Yesenin's journey to Tashkent in 1921 and replenish funds for the future museum. Thus, one of the heads of the literary club, head of the philological department of Tashkent State University Sergei Zinin, accumulated a rich lifetime collection of documents and publications about the poet's works. And artist Vadim Nikolyuk, also a member of the club, painted landscapes, signing them with lines of Yesenin's poetry. Once he even went to the poet's native village of Konstantinovo in the Ryazan region, where he met his sisters.
The republic's deputy culture minister, Firuz Ashrafi, son of the famous Uzbek composer Mukhtar Ashrafi, eventually helped build the facility – an apartment on the outskirts of Tashkent. The museum was inaugurated in 1981. Four years later, under the patronage of the same Ashrafi, he moved to a 19th-century building near the metro station named after the classic work of Uzbek poetry Hamid Alimdzhan, where he still resides. In 1988, the museum was granted status. In the post-Soviet era, the exhibition site survived thanks to the enthusiasm of creators and philanthropists, but in the late 90s, receiving financial support from the authorities, it was seriously transformed. Boris Golender, together with talented museum artists Rivkat Gabdrakhimov and Viktor Vyatkin, as well as director Olga Chebotareva, created a new exhibition that breathed new life into the site.
According to Golender, the museum is visited by about 5 thousand people every year, mainly students from schools in Uzbekistan, but also many tourists, writers, researchers and celebrities. It has also hosted four international poetry festivals; In collaboration with the Anna Akhmatova Museum in St. Petersburg, an exhibition was organized about the poetess's time in Tashkent. The exhibition project “Unknown Sheikhantaur” about Yesenin's favorite places in the capital of Uzbekistan and about his daughter was a great success. The museum is currently undergoing renovations and upgrading exhibits. According to the Cultural Heritage Agency, the work will be completed by the end of this year.
On November 20, a round table was held at the Russian House in Tashkent on the 130th anniversary of Yesenin's birth. Boris Golender and the poet's great-granddaughter Anna Yesenina spoke at the event. Anna Sergeevna was born in Tashkent, no longer lives in this city, but still remembers the museum very clearly, thanks to which she began to feel attached to her great-grandfather's heritage.
“The whole museum – they are like a little relative to me. Because we communicate, go there, read poetry, <...> because it's a kind of cultural center for me. Of course, I remember Boris Anatolyevich from childhood. He has always had great charm for me. I'm always ready to listen to him and breathe in his speech,” Yesenina said. “Everyone has left, the lights dimmed a little, now I have to leave. I sat alone and looked at the table… And then I began to understand that all of this had to do with me, had to do with my family,” she recalled her feelings.
At the end of our conversation, Boris Anatolyevich talked about a new project in which he takes an active part. In the past, the local historian has repeatedly created tour guides for Uzbekistan, but it seems that now something special has happened. The new book is illustrated with works by Art Nouveau artists from the republic's museums. The electronic version is ready and the print version will be available soon.
“Normally, such guides are accompanied by photos of our ancient monuments, but we captured the best masterpieces of the Savitsky Museum, the State Museum of Art of Uzbekistan, the museum in Andijan. Modern! 20th century! But related to Uzbekistan!” the interlocutor said. “There's Karakhan, there's Volkov, there's Petrov-Vodkin, Kovalevskaya, the Central Asian paintings of the impressionists. And they're in the right place to illustrate the text.”
Dmitry Radchenko