Exploring The Market Bazaar In Nukus

Every city in Uzbekistan has a big, sprawling, local market bazaar. Modern grocery stores are a growing option for shopping, yet wandering the busy stalls of an old bazaar still satisfies.

Aisles of fruits and vegetables.

Legumes by the kilogram. Here comes the meat. Pig's feet on the right.

More stalls, bringing the color.

The fresh eggs truck, just open the back and set the prices. Butcher shop sign, boasting of the wide variety of meat sources. So regal.

The babushka waiting line. Having acquired their food for the week, the women line up in the parking lot for their rides home.

Dandy Dioramas At The Gosudarstvennyy Museum In Nukus

What better way to show the future what the past looked like then with a good, old-fashioned diorama? The Gosudarstvennyy Museum in Nukus has some nice windows into history.

A pleasant look at a disaster. An innocent look at fishing at the Aral sea. Today, no water, no more sea, and certainly no more fish. Must have been a nice life.

Good taxidermy. Some sort of rare Central Asian tiger species. Who knew? Took a wrong turn outside Darjeeling? Local ibex, best features forward.

Hauling picked cotton. The homemade love in the diorama dominates.

Great Patriotic War, WWII bunker. Not sure how many of them were dug way out Nukus way. Back to those stuffed animals. A three way stand off. Watch out from above.

More hard labor, at the blacksmith.

Good Stuff At The Gosudarstvennyy History Museum In Nukus

Beyond the epic Savitsky art museum, Nukus has a few other worthy attractions. The local history museum contains some fun, interesting stuff. Time for a peek.

A giant yurt and cart in the lobby, we must be in the right place for some Central Asian artifacts.

You gotta have a little love for king cotton, the economic engine of the area. Bling bling. Cool Soviet era wall phone.

A highlight of the museum is a nice collection of old textiles. Colorful robes, iconic ikat designs.

A couple of details of the rich, intricate and unique fabrics on display.

Putting the breast in breastplate. Does the woman warrior Tumaris even need that sword?

Musing At Masterpieces At The Nukus Museum Of Art, Part Two

More rooms, more paintings collected by Igor Savitsky that deserve, demand a gaze. Take a good look.

The Brown Girl by A Poret.

Working hard at the pier. BA Golopolosov's painting, Cleaning the Deck, 1931. Being moody in red. Portrait of Sculptor Fuad Salaev by F Agaev.

Of course, more cotton picking. A painting by AN Volkov from 1945. The deceptive glory. Poetry or propaganda?

A visit to old Bukhara in a painting titled Kalyan Minaret from 1929. By PP Benkov. A humble Uzbek meal, by S Kolibanov, titled Before The Lunch, 1965. Nice touch with iconic ikat fabric as the picnic blanket. Plenty of symbols included, like the non bread, tea and a cotton stem and bloom, similar to what is frequently found in religious Renaissance paintings.

Sad protest. Aral Sea Pieta by J Lepesov. The Pieta theme is the depiction of the recently dead Jesus, being cradled by his mother, the Virgin Mary. It's a go-to image for absolute sadness and defeat. This painting is using the theme to depict a protest of the Soviets for ruining the Aral Sea by draining it for cotton production. Sad, indeed.

Musing At Masterpieces At The Nukus Museum Of Art, Part One

Time to take a good look at some of the painting highlights collected by Igor Savitsky. The man had an eye. Actually, two eyes. Good ones.

Cotton Picking by AA Shpadi. Picking cotton is a major activity in Uzbekistan. It's a complicated history, from Soviet agriculture planning, patriotic bonding over harvesting to child labor problems and the environmental disaster of draining the Aral sea. A bucolic scene with undertones.

A painting by RR Falk, titled At The Square In Samarkand, 1943. The Silk Road, an enduring subject. How about some light refreshment? By The Sea Mari Luiza by K Redko.

Enchanting. Scary. A NI Konisheva painting, titled Portrait of Irina Plamenevskaya.

From 1971, Hunter by NM Nedbaylo. Henri Rousseau gives a nod. Crimson Autumn, 1931, by U Tansiqboyev. Now, Henri Matisse and his fellow fauves give a nod.

Workers of the world unite! Or, at least suffer in the background of the fat capitalists. From 1931 by MI Kurzin, titled, of course, Capital. 

Seeing The Savitsky Museum In Nukus

Igor Savitsky, born 1915, was a Ukrainian archeologist who ended up on a dig in Karakalpakstan, Uzbekistan in 1950. That area is way out west, near the town of Nukus. He stuck around, started collecting/hoarding traditional crafts, clothing, jewelry. Savitsky moved on to collecting Russian avant-garde, "degenerative" art and works from many local, Central Asian artists. He died in 1984 and it wasn't until the years of perestroika, Uzbek independence in 1991, and the establishment of the Nukus Museum of Art in 2003 that the full extent of the amazing collection became known.

Today, Savitsky's collection is considered one of the most important Russian modern, avant-garde collections in the world. Right there, way out in western Uzbekistan.

A little intro and a big, hero pic of Savitsky, the swashbuckling archeologist.

Most galleries are pure paintings, save for some personal, period objects. Good for context. Make sure to record your visit.

Paintings dominate the exhibits, save for a few traditional textiles, objects.

Amazing chapans, local robes.

Let's get to those paintings. Of course, the glory of manual labor is a major theme. Make sure your picnic lunch next to the wheat field you're harvesting is well stocked.  Here's a painting by U Saparov, titled, Rest.

Where Abu Dhabi Started, The Qasr Al Hosn

There's a nice museum right in the center of downtown Abu Dhabi that used to be an old fort and a palace for the city. The place has been restored and is full of informative exhibits on old Abu Dhabi and palace life.

The fort architecture is classic and is a nice juxtaposition to the tall glass towers of the modern city. Good on the government in saving the complex and doing a nice restoration.

Inside, a meandering procession of exhibits, including handicrafts, colorful textiles and other artifacts.

Another view of the impressive grounds and the big city in the background. Times change, time stays the same.

Old palace digs, kind of classy, kind of humble. Just give me a big wood bed and some fancy chests. No wine fridge?

Big wood door and curious school kids.

Seeing The Past At The Emirates Heritage Village

Kind of the Williamsburg of the UAE. The Heritage Village is a quasi reconstruction of a typical, old Middle Eastern desert village. At least that's the layout.

C'mon in, check out the mud buildings, artisans, history.

There's a small museum that's devoted to handicrafts and old industries. Diving for pearls was a thing. Old sorting baskets.

A section of the museum is devoted to old, traditional dress and grooming. Long beard and head covering. Solemn.

Feet, left bare. Might want to go get a toe touch up. Women, of course, must cover up, at least with a cool, intricate leather mask of sorts.

In another part of the village, a group of artisans still practice classic traditional crafts. The master wood carver.