SAIL'GOH STREET

Once it was the main business street of new city. Here there were the most prestigious public buildings and private residences of most influential people of former Turkistan Region.

Nothing of this is remained now days, except for one, very remarkable monument of architecture. At the end of present Sail'goh Street, among oaks of Ancient Park the beautiful palace of grand duke Nikolay Konstantinovich (now it is the House of Receptions of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Republic of Uzbekistan) towers.

Palace of grand duke Nikolay Konstantinovich in Tashkent -is a vivid example of Turkistan colonial construction of modernist style. Such buildings were erected on boundary of XIX-XX centuries of characteristic brown-yellow burnt brick, not plastered, and decorated with a figured laying and forged lattices. Internal premises often were covered with a Ganch engraving in national traditional way. It is necessary to say, that all these elements are present in architecture and furnish of a palace.

"Grand duke" is an official title of members of the Russian imperial Romanov family, meaning prince of blood. Nikolay Konstantinovich Romanov (1850-1918) was the native grandson of the Russian emperor Nikolay 1st and came to Tashkent in the beginning of the eightieth years of XIX century against his will. For counteraction to authorities young Guards officer Nikolay Konstantinovich was declared injured in mind and banished for ever to suburb of empire - in Turkistan region. This person never occupied any official posts in Tashkent. He become famous here as a competent engineer - irrigator, and in 1890 he ordered to build his own Tashkent palace for accommodation of big and very valuable collection of works of art. Now the collection of grand duke is the center of assembly of the State museum of arts of Uzbekistan.