KHAMZA HOUSE MUSEUM

In the purest Soviet tradition, this house where the poet Khamza, whose real name was Hamza Hakimzade Niyazi, was born and grew up, was transformed into a museum in 1959. Traditional house of old Kokand, it is the occasion to discover the alleys of the old town and the habitat of the beginning of the 20th century. The courtyard shelters a hundred-year-old mulberry tree while the living rooms are divided between a space for men and a space for women. We discover the house which saw the beginnings of the emblematic poet of Uzbek social realism and is still considered the father of modern poetry in Uzbekistan, having broken with Arab and Persian legends and integrated Russian and Western rules into themes that remain oriental. An early supporter of the Bolsheviks, he was transformed into a national hero by Soviet power, alongside Tamara Khanum, one of the first dancers to remove her veil in public, with whom he led a small travelling theatre troupe. Yet many still consider him a traitor to the Uzbek nation and to Islam. He was stoned to death by clerics during his stay at Chakhimardan, a tragic death in 1929, the year he turned 40. The same year as Nurkhon Youlacheva, another dancer who had removed her veil and also died by stoning. The town of Chakhimardan, a small Uzbek enclave in Kyrgyz territory, is home to one of the few statues in the country dedicated to the memory of the poet, enthroned in the place where the poet was executed by the rabble.