UPDATE – My friend Mark H. sent me a photo of the original mosaic on the Pravda building. I am not sure why the current building owners would block out the Russian Cyrillic script. I think it would be a loss of the city’s historical heritage if Soviet architecture is slowly being lost. However, considering the Russians invaded and suppressed the Uzbeks for such a long time, I can see why government officials and citizens would want to get rid of this part of their history.
I have not been feeling well recently with a strong chest cold and sinus inflammation. I went for a long walk Sunday afternoon to clear my head. On my explorations of Tashkent, I always discover an interesting facet of the city. On this walk, I noticed this Soviet era mosaic (above) of a newspaper delivery person. In going around to the front of the building, I saw that it was the offices of Pravda Vostok (Truth of the East) the official Russian language newspaper of record of the Uzbek S.S.R. I was surprised that it still functioning as a media outlet. I believe it is still owned by the government.
Further on I stopped at the Crying Mother Monument and the eternal flame. The site commemorates the 400,000 Uzbeks who died in World War II. The Germans never reached Tashkent, but many Uzbeks were conscripted into the Soviet army. I need to read more about Uzbekistan’s role in World War II.
Finally, after my walk in the late afternoon, Nadia, Alejandra and I went for a cup of tea. It was another gray, wet day and the hot jasmine tea made me feel a bit better. Breadly is a really nice coffee place with gourmet-level food and sour dough and multi-grain breads. I highly recommend a visit.
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