Hidden Uzbekistan · since 2025
The Uzbekistan few have seen
We find, document and refuse to let go of the historical places that never made it into textbooks or tour itineraries.
01 · The project
What is Hidden Uzbekistan?
Hidden Uzbekistan is a youth-led initiative. Beyond the famous sights of Samarkand and Bukhara, thousands of ancient places across the country are slowly being forgotten. We go and find them.
It began in June 2025 as “Hidden Samarkand” and became Hidden Uzbekistan that July: from Samarkand to the whole country.
Find
We locate lesser-known historical places.
Document
We record them in photographs, film and writing.
Preserve
We keep their stories before they are lost.
- places in the archive
- 8
- project started
- June 2025
- reach
- Samarkand · Tashkent · Karmana · Kyzylkum
Data archive
The project's own records, newest first. Open any of them: what happened, the photographs and the post.
Work begins on a single digital archive
On 21 August 2026 the project announced work on a new digital archive website bringing historical, archaeological, architectural and cultural sites together on one platform.
The aim: to preserve Uzbekistan's history through digital archiving and research, and open it to everyone. “One country. Hundreds of hidden places. One digital archive.”
Post on the channelThe project returns: “We are back”
On 28 July 2026, after a break, the project came back with “We are back”.
Over the next days the channel set out its new direction: historic places from every corner of Uzbekistan, their legends and cultural meaning, high-quality photos and film, all in one digital archive.
Post on the channelTashkent and Karmana join the archive
On 3 February 2026 the archive went beyond Samarkand with a record of the Kukeldash madrasa in Tashkent, written by Quvonchbek Arslonov.
It sets out the madrasa's thuluth inscriptions and the building's history. In the same days the Qosim Shaykh complex in Karmana joined the archive.
Post on the channelA domestic tourism fair announced at Ishratkhona
The channel announced a “Domestic Tourism Fair” on 28 August 2025 at 5:30 pm at the Sultan Khovand Beka mausoleum of the Ashratkhona complex in Samarkand.
Tour operators, travel agents, hotels, hostels and others in tourism were invited: new partnerships, round tables and a cultural programme. Entry was free.
Post on the channelA call for volunteers: articles, photographs, film
On 18 August 2025 the project called for volunteers: to find little-known historic places, write about them, photograph them and film them.
Volunteers' articles, photos and videos were to be published on the project's website and social pages. The next day the project opened its website.
Post on the channelPartial restoration and a hashar at Ishratkhona
On 22 July 2025 the channel showed partial restoration and a hashar, a community work day, under way at the Ishratkhona mausoleum.
The photographs show the grounds being tidied: paths, new railings and cleared land. For the project the day matters: this was the place it started with.
Post on the channelThe channel becomes Hidden Uzbekistan
On 20 July 2025 the channel became “Hidden Uzbekistan”. In the same days the project announced that it was about to grow and that big news was coming.
Followers had voted on the next place to film. With too few votes, the team chose to film another place instead.
Post on the channel“Hidden Samarkand” begins
On 15 June 2025 the project began as “Hidden Samarkand”. Its first post named the aim: to show people the historic but little-known places of Samarkand and beyond.
The channel asked readers to write in about such monuments near them. The first record was the Ishratkhona mausoleum, built by Abu Said in the 1460s and badly damaged in the 1905 earthquake.
Post on the channel
02 · Archive
The archive, layer by layer
Archaeologists open the ground one layer at a time: the deeper, the older. Our archive is laid out the same way. Each find sits in the layer of its age. Select one to open its full record.
01 / 05
20th century
02 / 05
16th century
03 / 05
15th century
the Timurids
04 / 05
Before the Common Era
05 / 05
The age of the Tethys Sea
03 · Mission
Find the ruins, and bring them back
Our aim is to tell the story of every forgotten place and to see it restored. A place that has been documented can no longer be lost, and a place that has drawn attention joins the queue for repair.
- 01
Find
We search, or followers tell us about an ancient place in their area.
- 02
Document
We go there, photograph and film it, and write its history from the sources.
- 03
Publish
We carry the story out through the channel, film and the digital archive.
- 04
Restore
We draw attention to stalled repairs and join the hashar when it comes.
Team
The people behind every record
Hidden Uzbekistan is run by young people themselves: they find the place, write about it and film it.
Core team
The people who lead the project.
Anvarjon Sobirov
Project Founder
Muhammadaziz Numonov
Chief Operating Officer
Nuriddin Mukhiddinjonov
Chief Marketing Officer
04 · Join
Let's preserve history together
Want to put history into practice? Join as a volunteer. The articles, photographs and films you make are published on our channel and in the archive.