6 Facts About Uzbekistan You Probably Didn't Know

Ben Crowley

March 14, 2022

1. Uzbekistan invented television

Of course, many of you will know that John Logie Baird invented television. A couple of decades of his life were dedicated to sending signals from one device to another, sending images via radio waves, and in 1928 he successfully transmitted images across the Atlantic. Before this he was demonstrating his technology for years.

And don’t worry, we’re neither claiming that this isn’t true, or trying to say that he was from Uzbekistan.

However, the first demonstration of a working fully electric television set like we have in our homes today, was invented by a man in Uzbekistan by the name of Boris Grabovsky. One of his earliest transmissions was of a local Tashkent tram.

It's also reported that his family home stood where the famous Tashkent TV Tower now stands, though sadly there isn’t any evidence there of this. If it is true.

2. Uzbekistan has the world’s 2 ^nd largest solar furnace

You've probably never heard of a solar furnace, nor is your life going to be greatly affected now you know they exist. The biggest is currently in France and it’s a rather simple idea. Using lots of mirrors placed at appropriate angles, you concentrate all of the sun's rays into one place to create a super high heat. The heat is then used to create electricity, melt precious metals or as is its most common and practical use at the one in Uzbekistan, cook shashlik (meat skewers).

The solar furnace in Uzbekistan was built in the 70s during the Soviet Union, and not only is it an amazing contraption that looks like something out of a science fiction film, but there are also some amazingly well kept Soviet research facilities including a grand foyer with amazing Soviet Monumental Art and Mosaics.

We are the only company currently taking tourists to this facility.

3. In Uzbekistan there is a whole building dedicated to one dish

In Italy there is no National Pizza Restaurant, nor in India a National Curry Centre. In the United States you won't find a 2000 seat restaurant that only sells Hot Dogs, but in Uzbekistan you will find the National Plov Centre!

That's right, a whole centre dedicated just to the eating of rice, served with meat (usually lamb) with vegetables. The National Plov Centre is located in Tashkent (right next door to the famous TV Tower) and sits roughly 2000 guests. Only open for lunch, as plov is traditionally a lunch meal and not eaten for dinner, they will serve a few different types of plov, with your choice of quail eggs or horse sausage on the side, as well as salad and freshly made juices.

The main tourist attraction is the massive, and I mean massive, cauldrons that sit outside the restaurant to cook up enough rice, meat and vegetables for the thousands that come in each day.

4. Uzbekistan is one of only 2 double-landlocked countries

This is a great one for trivia nights as it comes up a lot! A double-landlocked country is a country which is only surrounded by landlocked countries and thus you need to travel through two countries to get from that country to the sea. And there happen to be only two of these in the whole world! The other is the European country of Liechtenstein.

5. Uzbekistan has the oldest Quran

This one is probably the shakiest of the facts as it is a hotly disputed title. There are multiple questionable facets to the claim – firstly, the age, which is calculated based on scientific aging techniques, and secondly, what constitutes a Quran? Some of the contenders are only part thereof and some are manuscripts, not finished products.

Regardless, the Samarkand Kufic Quran, sometimes known as the Tashkent Quran as it is housed in Tashkent, is definitely very old, whether it’s really the oldest or not, dating back to the 7 ^th or 8 ^th century. It is believed to have belonged to the Third Caliph after the Prophet Muhammad. So at the very least, they certainly have a really old Kuran!

It's not certain how it got to Samarkand, with some believing it was sent by the third Caliph directly to Samarkand for reference, while others believe Ali took it to modern day Iraq with him where it was later taken by Amir Timur. Later it was taken under the Russian Empire to St. Petersburg where it stayed until Lenin donated it to the Islamic community in Ufa, Russia. In 1924 it was finally returned to Tashkent.

6. Uzbekistan has the world's worst placed fishing port

The fishing port of Moynaq is covered in mosaics of fishermen proudly completing their work. The town hall has a large boat monument at the front and there are seafood canneries dotted over town. However, Moynaq is almost 150km from the nearest water and over 300km from what’s left of the Aral Sea.

It's not quite their fault though and is of course because of the Aral Sea disaster. Possibly the worst manmade environmental disaster the world has seen. The Aral Sea is now only 10% of its original size and reportedly will never be able to be fixed.

There is a cemetery of ships there to see, just sitting where the former sea used to be.

If you want to see some of these things for yourself, contact us for our tours of Uzbekistan .