Palace of Friendship of Peoples

History

The palace was built in 1980 on the square of the same name by architects Y. Bukin, S. Adylov, Y. Rozanov, Y. Sukhanov, F. Tursunov, V. Shestopalov, Y. Shumov and others, and opened in 1981; the Chilonzor-line metro station on the square, opened in 1977, shares its name. In front stood D. Ryabichev's monument to the family of the blacksmith Shaakhmed Shamakhmudov.

In 2008 the palace was renamed the Istiqlol Palace of Arts, the monument moved to the outskirts and the metro station renamed; in May 2018 the city council restored the old names and returned the Shamakhmudov monument to its place.

Today

The palace hosts international forums, state ceremonies and concerts by Uzbek and foreign stars: CIS leaders signed the Collective Security Treaty here in May 1992, it hosted the 2004 SCO summit, and the Scorpions played in 2018. It was added to the national heritage list in 2024 as a monument of modernist architecture.

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'.