Pilgrimage site · Karmana District
Qosim Sheikh Complex
The lodge of the sheikh who saved Abdullah Khan II
Modern · Navoiy city
Navoiy city centre
Founded in 1958 and named after the poet Alisher Navoiy, the city was built to a single master plan. Its centre of broad boulevards, parks and the poet's monument makes a handy base for exploring the region.
Photo: Tewayev · CC0 · Wikimedia Commons
History
The city was founded in 1958 alongside a mining and metallurgical plant near the village of Karmana and named after the great poet and thinker Alisher Navoiy. In the 1960s it was built to a single master plan by Leningrad architects, who won the USSR State Prize for it in 1969. The chief builder was Z. P. Zarapetyan, whose monument stands in the centre.
Until 1982 Navoiy belonged to Bukhara Region. Today it is an industrial hub, home to the Navoi Mining and Metallurgical Company, Navoiyazot and a free industrial economic zone, with 171,300 residents on 1 January 2026.
What to see
Boulevards and gardens surround the Alisher Navoiy monument, with a park, aquapark, zoo and puppet theatre nearby. Karmana's monuments and the regional museum are 4–6 km north; Rabati Malik is 20 km west.
Photos
Museum · Karmana District
State Museum of History and Culture of Navoiy Region
A treasure house of the Zarafshan oasis
Archaeology · Navbahor District
Sarmishsay Petroglyphs
Ten thousand years of history carved in stone
Mausoleum · Karmana District
Tomb of Emir Abdulahad Khan
A Bukharan emir's grave in Karmana
Mausoleum · Karmana District
Mir Said Bahrom Mausoleum
Karmana's cousin of the Samanid Mausoleum
Ensemble · Karmana District
Mirzachorbogʻ Residence
The Bukharan emirs' summer palace in Karmana
Archaeology · Karmana District
Rabati Malik
The Qarakhanids' 'royal fortress' in the steppe
Archaeology · Karmana District
Malik Sardoba
A domed cistern for passing caravans
Mosque · Karmana District
Deggaron Mosque
A dome on four pillars — one of Uzbekistan's oldest mosques