The Andijan Museum Of History And Culture

Or Museum of Local Lore. The repository has several names. It's a typical museum for a small town in Uzbekistan, filled with old and recent history, handicrafts, maybe some paintings, a treasured plate. Time to take a tour.

Impressive outside. Enter now!

Before heading in, be sure to check out the elaborate, raised stone mural on the facade. Uzbek heritage in Soviet, Brutalist style. Inside, re-creating a painter's little studio.

Typical gallery room, filled with artifacts. Nice collection of wood cradles.

More old stuff. A classic, old chapan robe, in ikat style. A grave matter.

More paintings. Camels and fields of cotton, always good, local tropes.

Pottery From Rishtan, Uzbekistan

One of the craft specialties in Uzbekistan is pottery with intricate designs and the place to go for the best pieces is the town of Rishtan in the Fergana Valley. Several shops carry on a centuries old tradition of pottery design.

One of the best places to go is the Alisher Nazirov studio. Narzirov is a master ceramist and teacher of the traditional craft. His designs are recognized as its own school, style.

The Nazirov shop and studio. Catnip.

Excellent plates, all unique in style yet part of a traditional whole. Pick color.

Portrait of a man (not Nazirov) and his kiln. Hot stuff.

Traditional methods, a manual wheel. Monoculture, pieces waiting to be painted.

Rishtan has a handful of shops, schools devoted to pottery craft. No reason to be shy or humble about promoting the local work, plop a giant vase in a main roundabout. Boom!