Breakfast at the hotel was good! This is the mostly savory table, there were sweets too, and they made eggs to order.
“The State Museum of Arts of the Republic of Karakalpakstan named after I.V. Savitsky”
The building straight ahead is the main space, currently closed for renovations as it has been for the last few years. The building to the right is open but what is available to see is greatly reduced. From an article in The Guardian written in 2019: “The lost Louvre of Uzbekistan: the museum that hid art banned by Stalin. This museum in a bleak outpost has one of the world’s greatest collections of avant-garde art, rescued from Stalin’s clutches by an electrician. But now it needs a rescue of its own.”
I came an entire day out of my way from the next closest place I wanted to visit to see this museum and the remarkable collection of Russian avant garde art, but it was not to be. The main building is under renovation and the second building has only a couple pieces of the rescued art. I think the agent that booked this side trip might not have been fully aware of the degree of the shutdown.
I think there were only two rescued pieces on view, this being the main one, “The famous Bull painted by Vladimir Lysenko, who was also imprisoned, had to be taken down the day the KGB arrived. Savitsky renamed it Fascism Advances and put it back up the next day. It was only during perestroika that any of this could be spoken about.”
(My version of this picture is so full of glare, I’m using one from the article, and I might need a copy for my wall – Fascism Advances.)
There were other pictures and artifacts on display and here are some examples.
We, myself, Driver Davron Saidov, and Guide Tolqin Rajjaboyev (feel free to reach out to him! +99895051692) began our journey through the desert passing by Chilpik Kala, Toprak Kala, Ayaz kala, and Kizil Kala.
First we find Chilpik Kala, a Zoroastrian Tower of Silence where the dead were left to be exposed to the elements. Once only bones remained they were put in an ossuary. “This Zoroastrian ritual was practiced to prevent the contamination of the sacred elements of earth, water, and fire by decomposing bodies.”
Notice the line of green trees marking a river’s flow. To the right, desert forever, to the left, irrigation.
You need cement to make concrete and I don’t remember if this is for cement or concrete but in any case it’s an important facility.
Next we find the three fortresses each with its own very long history that I won’t repeat here.
“Kyzyl-Kala Fortress, one of the oldest monuments in Uzbekistan’s Karakalpakstan Region, confirms the existence of a once-powerful and developed civilization in the Kyzylkum Desert. The outpost, whose name aptly means “Red Fortress”, remains steeped in legends which awaken near-visible images of the life which once transpired on this desolate site.”
Toprak Kala, I think the most important of the fortresses but I forget the details and anyway I got so distracted by…
…I got so distracted by these adorable painters that I wasn’t paying attention!
My guys: Tolqin and Davron and our white Chevy, where 90% of the cars on the road look exactly like this one, white because of the climate, Chevrolet because they make them in this style in Uzbekistan, and imported cars are priced out of reach. Tolqin and Davron, they were both lovely, kind, knowledgeable, and willing, lucky me.
We had lunch in a yurt situated beside a river, and we ate a heaping platter of fried fish from that very river as well as local bread and very delicious tomato salad. (I’ve had that tomato salad a couple more times, always delicious. Turns out they grown acres of hot-house tomatoes here so they ripen on the vine.)
There are three fortresses on this site all from different eras. It’s all like a movie, can’t you just picture it.
See those people walking into the fortress? I didn’t do that either.
Across the road, here’s the family friendly encampment of yurts available for rent.
With the fortress in view, you can ride a camel if you want.
Here’s our last gate (I didn’t show all the gates…) as we leave Karakalpakstan, nearing Khiva, our destination for tonight. My hotel in Khiva is called Kheyvak, perfectly situated inside the ancient walls, surrounded by the old city.
