080023 EX Field Trip: Uzbekistan: Samarkand, Bukhara, Tashkent (2025S)

The university fieldtrip to Central Asia takes place as part of the art history curriculum (fieldtrip abroad). It explores two major areas of art history, Islamic art and international modernism.

The focus is first on late medieval and modern architecture and art from the Islamic periods in Central Asia, under the Timurid, Shaybanid and subsequent Emirate dynasties. This first part of the trip takes us to the west of the country, i.e. buildings and museums in the cities of Samarqand, the residential city of Shahrisabz and the desert city of Bukhara. Our site themes here range from the refined medieval brick architecture to the gigantic buildings of the Timurids (descendants of Tamerlan) and their furnishings and the vernacular forms of urban buildings. In the brick architecture of Central Asia, solutions were formulated that were adopted in West Asia, Iran and Turkey. The architecture of the Timurids had an impact on the Ottomans and was a model for the Mughal rulers of India.

Then, continuing to Tashkent, the focus shifts to modernity and the Russian, Soviet and contemporary periods. Tashkent offers a unique cross-section of the most diverse examples of Art Deco and the Soviet and more recent adoptions of local historical forms for modern architecture - hence a specific modern reception of Islamic art. Examples range from metro buildings and public architecture to urban planning and house building. In addition to museums, we will also get to know research institutions. One focus will be on the changing conceptual framing of art in the Tsarist, Soviet and more recent nation-state periods.

Planned schedule: outward flight to Samarqand, there we familiarize with architecture and art topics through various examples. Then: by bus to the south: Shahrisabz; and onwards to the west: Bukhara; from there by train to the capital Tashkent; return flight from there to Vienna. A detailed plan of the trip will be discussed in the introductory session.

Estimated costs for 14 days, return flight, accommodation in double room with breakfast, travel in the country, entrance fees, transfers: around € 1150.
Mandatory: passport (no identity card), valid for at least three months from the date of entry. Non-EU nationals must inform themselves about any possibly different entry regulations.