May 6, 2026
Our guide joked that the most beautiful Metro stations in all of Uzbekistan were in Tashkent. Of course, Tashkent is the only city in Uzbekistan with a Metro System.
The system opened in 1977 while Uzbekistan was part of the Soviet Union. It was the first metro in Central Asia.
There are 3 lines and 29 stations, each of which is designed around a particular theme, often reflected in the station name. I would have loved to have had the time to explore them all.
Three of us and our guide first went through a very cursory security check. Our guide then paid our entry with a credit card. The first train arrived packed to the gills. Three of us got on, but our guide did not. Hardly important since it is really no different than any other metro system. With the 80-degree temperature outside, the A/C in these trains is no better than the A/C in older trains throughout the world. It was a typical ride on a typically crowded system.
We got on at Chorsu Station, below the market.
Opened in November 1989, sadly, it is hard to find much information about this station. Apparently, the walls of the vestibule and the platform are decorated with white Gazgan marble, and the floor of the station is covered with gray granite.
I have read that the tile reliefs, bas-reliefs, represent “Ecology” and Link of Times and were painted by Kim Yu.
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Kosmonavtlar Station
The first stop was the Kosmonavtlar Station. Kosmonavtlar was opened on the 31st of December 1984 in honor of the Soviet Union’s cosmonauts.
The blue ceramic medallions on the walls feature some of the pioneers of the Soviet space program, including Valentina Tereshkova, the first woman in space, and Yuri Gagarin, the world’s first cosmonaut. (I honestly couldn’t tell who was who as the names were in Cyrillic).
The ceramic bright-colored walls fade from blue to black to imitate the Earth’s atmosphere; the ceiling represents the Milky Way. The shiny green columns are fascinating as well.
O’zbekiston Station
The Cotton Boll Lamps were gorgeous
O’zbekiston station was opened in 1984 and is relatively simple in design. Apart from its beautiful light fixtures, but oh, those light fixtures!
O’zbekiston station was once used as a bomb shelter.
We were running out of time, so at the next station we stood to the side of the door and shot pictures as fast as we could.
Gafur Gulom
Opened in 1989, the station is named after Gafur Gulom, an Uzbek poet, writer and translator. The station was decorated by artist S. Sultonmuradov with ceramic pieces.
As I looked online at all the stations, with as little information as there was, the beauty cannot be denied. What a fun adventure!