On the eve of the greatest and dearest holiday for the country, the Independence Day, the capital of Uzbekistan hosted the opening of a new unique cultural center - Fine Arts Gallery of Uzbekistan.

The Fine Arts Gallery of Uzbekistan built in the traditional national style originating from the architectural masterpieces of the most ancient world cultural centers such as Samarkand, Bukhara and Khiva, meets all the requirements to such structures.

The construction of facility, which occupied a worthy place in the new ensemble of independent Uzbekistan capital center involved not only rich architectural and historical heritage of Uzbek masters, but traditional local construction materials.

Process of Gallery construction considered experience gained by the largest museums and exhibition halls in Italy, Germany, Great Britain, the USA, and Russia. This enabled construction of a unique cultural structure, which currently has no equals not only in Central Asia, but also in no other CIS country.

The latest equipment ensures compliance with the most stringent temperature, humidity and protective requirements needed to demonstrate and store the exhibitions. The building includes lecture and cinema halls, a library, a masterclass studio providing the Gallery with the status of the art center, enabling research and restoration works at a high professional level, hosting representative international exhibitions.

The first exhibition of Fine Arts Gallery of Uzbekistan includes more than 300 paintings - the best examples of the original and visual arts of XXth century Uzbekistan represented by such vivid names as U. Tansykbaev, Usto Mumin, A. Abdullaev, N. Kuzibaev, M. Yuldashev, R. Gagloeva, B. Jalalov, L. Bure, P. Benkov, as well as young artists, whose works reflect the life of contemporaries rich with events that determine the present day and future of the republic.

The first exhibition of Fine Arts Gallery of Uzbekistan was based on the collection of the Art Gallery of the National Bank created back in 1994.

Executing a mission of a bank leading in the development of the country's financial system and its main global representative assigned by the Government, the National Bank has never remained uninvolved in the social, spiritual and cultural life of the Republic.

The Bank's Art Gallery celebrating its 10th anniversary this year supports talented artists of Uzbekistan by promoting the best achievements of modern masters of fine art and the country's cultural wealth, and fulfills an important task preserving its cultural heritage. The First President emphasized this merit of the National Bank during his acquaintance with the exposition of the Gallery of Fine Arts.

The Bank regularly arranges exhibitions of works from its collection, organizes a number of regional exhibitions based on colorful paintings by local artists.

The National Bank regularly publishes art catalogs to popularize Uzbekistan's cultural heritage available today in museums and exhibition halls in almost all countries all over the world.

The Fine Arts Gallery of Uzbekistan pays special attention to the collection of coins, which is the crown jewel of the National Bank art fund. It is not a stretch to note that the Bank's numismatic collection can compete in quality with the famous collections of major foreign museums, including the one in the British Museum in London.

This collection is unique since its major part includes regional minted coins previously not known to global historical science. We can just name here the coins from Sogd, Khorezm, Chach, Ustrushan, Central Asian governors of the Omeyyads and Abbasids, coins minted by the Timurids and other local dynasties. Thus, this collection covering 2,500 years of history is a confirmation of the deep culture and statehood of Uzbekistan. Presented coins are the best monuments for the history of high-civilized country evolutionizing in parallel with the ancient global civilizations.

The significance and value of the numismatic collection increases fundamentally thanks to the opportunity provided by the National Bank to a wide number of specialists and history fans to see the collection in catalogs disclosing a huge and regular research work of the Bank's Fine Arts Gallery. It is important that the collection of the National Bank preserved hundreds of magnificent monuments of monetary circulation being a real national treasure of Uzbekistan.

Besides the main developer and sponsor – the National Bank, the origination of the Fine Arts Gallery was actively supported by the Academy of Arts of the Republic of Uzbekistan, the Ministry of Culture, the Directorate of Art Exhibitions and the State Museum of Arts.

When the President examined the exhibition of the Fine Arts Gallery of Uzbekistan, he particularly notedthat one of the fundamental principles of modern Uzbekistan is the spiritual development of itsnation.

Own Fine Arts Gallery in the country means a profoundcommitment of Uzbek people to spiritual improvement, preservation and enhancement of their unique cultural and spiritual heritage, which is the key option for the great future of our country.