Monument Of Courage Tashkent
Tashkent which is the capital city of Uzbekistan has a lot of tourist attractions. Visitors usually skip the smaller ones and concentrate on the few important landmarks. If you truly want to enjoy the city then give it at least two to three days then you will be able to explore some unique landmarks. One such landmark is the 1966 Tashkent Earthquake Memorial (Monument of Courage).
The city of Tashkent that we now see has a lot to do with the architectural influence of its former Soviet past. After the 1966 earthquake which struck the city of Tashkent almost all of the old towns and buildings were raised to rubble. The city that we now see was rebuilt after the earthquake and that is why the city looks so much like a former USSR township. The apartment building, the wide roads with large pavements, the parks, and the memorial squares are typical of a Soviet city.
1966 Tashkent Earthquake
In the early hours of April 26th at around 5.23 AM a shallow earthquake measuring 5.2 on the Richter scale struck the city of Tashkent. Unluckily the epicenter of the earthquake was the center of the city causing massive destruction.
The massive earthquake destroyed almost eighty percent of Tashkent which made 2,00,000 to 3,00,000 people homeless. Under the leadership of Chairman Leonid Brezhnev a massive rebuilding project was started to reconstruct Tashkent. Workers from all over the USSR were brought in to reconstruct the city. This indirectly made the city very cosmopolitan as most of the workers who had come to Tashkent for its reconstruction settled down in Tashkent.
Monument of Courage
To honor the people of the city and its reconstruction after the devastating earthquake a memorial was unveiled on its tenth anniversary in the year 1976.
The main sculpture was done by Dmitry Borisovich Ryabichev. For trivia, the same sculptor was also involved in sculpting the Gandhi statue located at the Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Museum in New Delhi.
He crafted the bronze statue of a mother with a child and the father leading in front. A symbol of how a family protected each other in the face of the earthquake. At the base is a granite cube which has a huge crack in the middle symbolizing the shattering of the ground. On the other side is a clock face which is stuck at 5.23.
The main architect of the monument was Sabir R. Adylov who was also involved in other landmarks and buildings in Tashkent and across USSR. Seven marble pedestals lead to the backdrop which features bronze reliefs depicting the reconstruction of the city of Tashkent.
How to Reach the Monument of Courage In Tashkent
The Monument of Courage is located on Sharaf Rashidov Avenue. There are many landmarks located near this like Memorial Square, the Monument of Independence, the Museum of Olympic Glory, the Art Gallery of Uzbekistan, the Statue of Sharaf Rashidov, the State Museum of the History of Uzbekistan, etc. The best is to walk along the Sharaf Rashidov Avenue and all the above spots can be covered. Start with a monument of courage.