Mukhtar Ashrafi museum

Mukhtar Ashrafi house-museum — a museum in Tashkent dedicated to the life and work of Uzbek composer and conductor, People's Artist of the USSR Mukhtar Ashrafi.

History

Mukhtar Ashrafi house-museum was established in 1982 in the apartment where the composer lived and worked in Tashkent from 1965 to 1975.

The memorial museum introduces the life and creative path of Uzbek composer and conductor, professor of the Tashkent State Conservatory, People's Artist, laureate of state and international awards, public figure and educator Mukhtar Ashrafi (1912 — 1975). The museum was founded in 1976 in the Tashkent apartment where the composer lived and worked. The opening ceremony of the museum exhibition took place on 11 June 1982. The museum fund is based on a large archive of more than 16,000 exhibits on composition and conducting, presented by the composer’s family, colleagues and students. The archival documents tell not only about the composer’s life and work, but also about the development of the republic’s musical art.

During tours, visitors become acquainted with photographs, posters, programs, letters and memorabilia reflecting Mukhtar Ashrafi’s activity in various fields of the republic’s culture. In the concert hall, many creative meetings, anniversary and memorial evenings, artistic exhibitions and concerts are held with cultural and artistic figures. In the first hall of the memorial, various exhibits telling the story of Mukhtar Ashrafi’s early life and activity from 1912 to 1945 are displayed. Family items passed down through generations: a dutar and tanbur made by woodworkers a hundred years ago, Uzbek folk instruments, and a model of the house in Bukhara where the composer spent his childhood.

Many theater posters, concert programs and photographs show Mukhtar Ashrafi's creative works of this period. The main exhibit of the hall is a gift given by the government of the Uzbek SSR for writing the First Heroic Symphony (1942).

Exhibition

The museum exhibition includes photographs, documents, manuscripts, posters, performance programs of the founder of the national opera, as well as the conductor's personal archive. In addition, there is a diorama of the house where the composer spent his childhood.

The museum consists of five rooms. The first hall presents his childhood years, three halls display his works according to periods of his life, and the fifth hall is dedicated to Ashrafi's social‑pedagogical activity. One of the museum rooms is devoted to the great composer and director's creative activity. Here his “Rustam Legend”, “Tumor of Love”, “Temur Malik” and many other works are collected.

The hall part is allocated for concerts, exhibitions and a music salon.