Eternal City (Boqiy Shahar)

A historical-ethnographic park inside the Silk Road Samarkand complex: streets named after the country's regions, 50-plus craft workshops, regional food and a rotating amphitheatre.

A city within a city

The Eternal City, Boqiy Shahar in Uzbek, is a historical-ethnographic park within the Silk Road Samarkand tourist centre, opened with the complex on 23 August 2022. The concept and look are the work of the contemporary artist Bobur Ismoilov. Across more than ten hectares, narrow lanes, turquoise domes, tiled portals and soaring minarets have been recreated from houses and squares described in old books, with Parthian, Hellenistic and Islamic motifs deliberately mixed. It is not a historic monument but a handsome piece of theatre about the past.

Streets of the regions

The streets are named after Uzbekistan's regions, so in a couple of hours you can “walk” through Samarkand, Bukhara, Fergana, Tashkent, Khorezm, Kashkadarya, Surkhandarya and Karakalpakstan. The main street, Samarkand, runs through a triumphal arch to the library and puppet theatre buildings. Fergana Street showcases silk, atlas and Rishtan ceramics, while the Bukhara and Khiva quarter has blacksmiths, woodcarvers and Gijduvan potters. More than 50 workshops demonstrate woodcarving, pottery, papermaking, jewellery and carpet weaving, and there are art salons and galleries too.

Food and shows

You can taste dishes from around the country here: tandoor bread, Bukhara-style samsa, Fergana plov. In the warmer months dancers and street performers fill the lanes, and with advance booking you can join a class in Samarkand plov or mulberry papermaking. At the heart of the park is an amphitheatre that can turn a full 360 degrees in 60 seconds, used for concerts, festivals and open-air nights.

Did you know?

Leaders attending the SCO summit strolled through the Eternal City in September 2022, and on 10 November that year guests of the Organization of Turkic States summit watched a folk programme here. In September 2026 the amphitheatre staged the opening and closing ceremonies of the 46th Chess Olympiad.