Craft · Fergana
Rishtan ceramics
The blue and turquoise pottery of Rishtan in the Fergana Valley, famed for its ishkor glaze made from plant ash and its local red clay.
Craft · Khorezm
Khiva woodcarving
The carved doors and columns of Itchan Kala: Khiva’s carvers never paint the wood, finishing it only with natural oil; the Juma Mosque alone has more than 200 columns.
Photo: Petar Milošević · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
The Khiva school
Woodcarving developed distinct schools in Tashkent, Kokand, Fergana, Bukhara, Samarkand and Khiva. Fergana carving is fine and delicate and Samarkand favours geometric girih, while Khiva’s masters leave the wood unvarnished and unpainted, treated only with natural oils so that its colour and grain show through. The design is transferred from a paper stencil and cut with chisels in elm, walnut, mulberry, apricot, plane or juniper.
The finest showcase of the Khiva school is the Juma Mosque in Itchan Kala, whose more than 200 carved columns and doors date from the 14th to the 19th centuries.
Where to see it
Walking through Itchan Kala, look closely at the doors of madrasas, palaces and houses, many carved with flowing islimi plant ornament. Carvers’ workshops in town sell Qur’an stands (lauh), boxes and miniature doors. The Juma Mosque also inspired the design of Uzbekistan’s pavilion at Expo 2025 in Osaka.
Photos
Craft · Bukhara
Gijduvan ceramics
Pottery from Gijduvan near Bukhara, glazed in browns, yellows and greens — the best-known centre of the Bukhara–Samarkand school.
Craft · Fergana
Margilan atlas and adras
Margilan’s ikat silks: pure-silk atlas and half-silk adras. UNESCO recognises the town’s work to safeguard them as a model practice.
Craft · Bukhara
Bukhara gold embroidery
Embroidery in gold and silver thread on velvet and silk — the art of the Bukhara emirs’ court and still the city’s most precious craft.
Craft · Namangan
Chust knives
Hand-forged knives from Chust in Namangan Region: a blade with a slightly upturned tip, the maker’s stamped ‘signature’ and a decorated sheath.
Craft · Namangan
Chust doppi (skullcap)
The four-sided Chust skullcap, with white pepper-pod motifs on dark green, is the best-known emblem of Uzbek dress — and every oasis has its own doppi.
Craft · Samarkand
Samarkand paper
Paper made from mulberry bark — the finest writing material of the 9th–10th-century Islamic world, revived at Konigil at the end of the 20th century.
Craft · Bukhara
Suzani and Bukhara embroidery
Large hand-embroidered hangings called suzani; the Bukhara school is known for fine designs covering almost the whole cloth in reds and greens on a pale ground.
Craft · Navoiy
Nurata suzani
Embroideries from Nurata in Navoiy Region: realistic sprays of carnations, irises, cotton flowers and cherries on a pale ground around a central eight-pointed star.
Craft · Samarkand
Samarkand and Urgut suzani
Big red-and-black circles and rosettes on white define the Samarkand school; Urgut is a living embroidery centre and a favourite bazaar for suzani hunters.