Tashkent State Circus

History

Tashkent's first circus was a wooden big top built in 1904 by the Georgian industrialist Georgy Tsintsadze; the first permanent circus building, from 1914, was destroyed in the 1966 earthquake, after which the troupe performed under canvas. The Tashkent State Circus dates from 1920, and its first local troupe was formed in 1928 by Karim Zaripov, founder of a dynasty of horse trainers. Design work on a new building began in 1967 under architect Genrikh Aleksandrovich with engineers S. Berkovich and R. Muftakhov; construction dragged on and the circus finally opened in 1976.

Architecture

With its streamlined form and big blue dome, the building is often likened to a landed flying saucer. Unlike most Soviet circuses it has no circular glazed foyer — the architects wrapped it in heavy sun screens suited to the climate. The originally Brutalist design was softened during construction with carved ganch over the concrete, marble-clad frames and cotton-boll motifs on the sun screens; the dome was repainted sea-green in the 1990s. It is one of the few modernist buildings in the Old City and joined the national heritage list in 2024.

On 26 July 2026 the building was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List as part of the serial property 'Tashkent Modernist Architecture: Modernity and Tradition in Central Asia'.