Every nation with its rich history has its own cultural codes in its culture, art, and social relations. The "code" of Uzbekistan's architecture is a living system which consists of a repeating harmony of color, form, pattern, and space. The root elements of this code involve brick and ganch, wooden columns with deep carvings; arch, portal, dome; girih geometry, styles of kufic and naskh writing, and courtyard-ayvan composition. The Uzbekistan pavilion at the 2025 Osaka EXPO brought this architectural code to the global stage in its modern interpretation.
The Khiva Juma Mosque is an enclosed space with wooden pillars.
The Juma Mosque in Ichan Kala is a unique example of the closed-yard Juma mosque typology designed for the Central Asian climate. There is a difference from other mosques that it has been built indoors, with many columns, and without a courtyard. The interior of the building is illuminated through two special openings in the ceiling. The height of the mosque's minaret is 42 meters, supported by 212 (in some sources 213) pillars. The oldest of these columns may have been taken from the medieval capital of Khorezm, the city of Kat. According to Expert’s notes 25 of the columns are ancient examples from the 10th-16th centuries, and four columns from the 10th-11th centuries are of particular value. The Juma Mosque can be called a kind of "palimpsest of monuments," containing pillars of different eras. Therefore, the architectural and semantic roots of the "Garden of Knowledge" pavilion in Osaka are inextricably linked with the monument of the Juma Mosque.
Poyi Kalon and Registan Ensembles
The Poi Kalyan ensemble consists of the Kalyan Minaret, Kalyan Mosque, and Mir Arab Madrasah. The Kalyan Minaret, or Bukhara Grand Minaret, is one of the oldest and tallest buildings on the square. Its height is 46.5 meters, and the lower diameter is 9 meters. The structure itself is built in a conical shape, and the building is decorated in an amazing and unusual way. Its cylindrical body is covered with smooth and relief rocky stripes. The advantage of this method is that even in the dynamics of light and shadow, changing throughout the day, the structure reveals its roundness. This is another bright element of the architectural codes of our country. The method of creating a stage effect that changes throughout the day through light sources, recesses, arches, grilles, and colored elements in the building has been effectively applied in many historical monuments.
The Registan ensemble, one of the most prominent examples of urban planning art in the East, is a unique architectural theater. The educational center of the ancient center of science, three magnificent complexes - Ulugbek (1417-1420), Sherdor (1619-1636), Tillakori (1646-1660) madrasahs, which are a high example of the art of Eastern urban planning, are decorated with geometric and floral mosaics and majolica.
Tashkent Modernism
After the 1966 earthquake, Tashkent was rebuilt both practically and architecturally. Modern designs were synthesized with local patterns and emblems. Architectural projects such as the Tashkent Circus and Chorsu Bazaar are masterpieces of modernism of the last century, harmonized with modern engineering under a huge dome. In these objects, historical motifs such as domes, lattices, muqarnas, and mosaics are combined with new elements. Currently, both buildings are nominated for inclusion in the UNESCO World Heritage List.
Osaka EXPO 2025: Architectural code of the "Knowledge Garden"
The concept of the Pavilion of Uzbekistan unites the national-architectural code with modern elements along with presenting it to the world as a renewed, polished work of art. In the "Garden of Knowledge" structure, a closed space with wooden columns, arch axis, dome tectonics, lattice and girih patterns - a modern constructive and modular system - were brought into a single architectural composition. It was erected in the Land of the Rising Sun as a unique example of the synthesis of the columns of the Juma Mosque in Khiva and the traditional architectural styles of Bukhara and Samarkand. In this pavilion, each visitor can see the national-architectural style and elements of Uzbekistan in a combination of modern elements, and take a cultural tour of the past, present, and future.