Mausoleum of Islam Karimov

Islom Karimov mausoleum — the burial place of Uzbekistan's first president Islom Karimov. This mausoleum is located inside the Hazrati Khizr mosque at the intersection of Shohi Zinda and the streets of Samarkand city.

Death of Islom Karimov

On 2 September 2016, the death of Islom Karimov was officially announced. He died as a result of an acute disturbance of cerebral blood circulation (stroke) that caused irreversible changes in the brain and cerebral organ insufficiency.

From early morning, among the people gathered on the capital's streets, a funeral cortege passed, and people threw flowers at it. More than a thousand people gathered at Tashkent airport to say goodbye. Karimov's coffin was covered with white cloth and the state flag.

Among the relatives who followed Karimov's body were his wife Tatyana Akbarovna and his younger daughter Lola.

On 3 September 2016, Uzbekistan's First President Islom Abdug‘aniyevich Karimov was buried in the “Hazrati Khizr” mosque area. Islom Karimov was appointed the first secretary of the Communist Party of Uzbekistan in 1989 and was elected president after the 1991 independence. He led Uzbekistan for more than a quarter of a century. According to official information, the death of the 78‑year‑old president was recorded at 20:55 local time on 2 September 2016.

The President of Tajikistan Emomali Rahmon, the President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhammedov, and the President of Afghanistan Ashraf Ghani visited Samarkand. President of Tajikistan Emomali Rahmon said that the Tajik people are brothers with the Uzbek people.

The Russian delegation was led by Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, and the Kazakh delegation by Prime Minister Karim Masimov. President Putin expressed condolences to the acting President of the Senate Nigmatulla Yuldoshev on the death of Islom Karimov.

However, Afghanistan Vice President, General Abdurashid Dostum sent his condolences to Prime Minister Shavkat Mirziyoyev.

Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev, Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev, Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko, Turkey President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Iran President Hassan Rouhani also sent condolences to the people of Uzbekistan on the occasion of Islam Karimov's death.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon announced that President Islam Karimov's death caused grief.

US President Barack Obama, in his statement on the death of Uzbekistan leader Islam Karimov, said that the United States shares the grief of the Uzbek people and noted that “the United States will remain faithful to cooperation with Uzbekistan, its independence, security and a future based on the rights of all its citizens.” Former Soviet Union’s first and only president Mikhail Gorbachev also expressed his condolences to the Uzbek people.

SHC Secretary Rashid Alimov expressed his deep sympathy to the people of Uzbekistan and the relatives of the deceased. In Samarkand, delegations from 17 countries visited to accompany Islam Karimov on his final journey.

Construction

Soon after the burial ceremony, the project for a mausoleum over his grave began to be developed in the Department for the Protection and Use of Cultural Heritage Objects under the Ministry of Culture of Uzbekistan. The main difficulty in working on the project was that the Hazrat Khizr Mosque was under UNESCO patronage. Therefore, it was important not only to unite two buildings from different periods in a single architectural style, but also to preserve the historical appearance of the World Heritage site.

Nearly 2,000 people, including craftsmen from India, participated in the construction of the mausoleum. The work was planned to be completed by September 2017, but at the last moment it was decided to open it on the 80th anniversary of Islam Karimov's birth. On 30 January 2018 the mausoleum was ceremonially opened and its first visitor was the current President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev.

Construction

The tomb of the First President of Uzbekistan consists of two parts — a traditional ayvan and the mausoleum itself, and is a centralized composition with a single-domed structure of a total height of 7.55 meters. The construction is made of white marble and is decorated with multicolored volumetric relief majolica (unlike ordinary ceramics, it is a type of pottery made of baked white or gray clay with a hollow “shard” covered with a double layer of glaze). The mausoleum’s cavern is made of dark green marble and ends with a large-volume stalactite belt made of carved glazed terracotta on the upper part of the walls. The main volume of the mausoleum is covered with a dome. Outside, the dome is covered with terracotta-colored ceramic tiles. The façades of the mausoleum are formed in the shape of arched niches. The entrance is equipped in the southeast corner, the remaining voids are covered with carved marble railings.

The interior of the tomb is made of white marble covered with colored semi‑precious stones. The mausoleum dome is decorated with a ceramic stalactite belt. The lower part of the mausoleum walls is covered with light green onyx. In the center of the mausoleum a white onyx rises to the right, and around it Quranic verses as well as inscriptions related to Amir Timur and the Timurid period are engraved.

A marble slab is installed at the entrance to the mausoleum, on which in Uzbek and English the words “This sacred place is the eternal shelter of Islam Abdug‘aniyevich Karimov, the First President of the Republic of Uzbekistan, a great statesman and politician, a dear and beloved son of the Uzbek people” are written.