It was a quiet and cold Sunday for me. We had a nice breakfast with Ocean, Ollie and Ocean’s friend Asla staying over last night. We spent the morning looking at another house to possibly move to. We decided despite the house being twice the size of our current home, we are very comfortable with one of the few Western-style home in Tashkent. In the afternoon, I took Ocean over to her friend’s house and went for a run with Obi. I must be getting old because after about a mile, my calf started to tighten, so much so that I ended up walking for most of the loop. While walking with Obi I noticed the German Lutheran Church. It is nice to know that different religions are tolerated in Uzbekistan. Uzbek culture is very accepting and laid-back and it shows with their support of Lutheran, Catholic and Russian Orthodox churches in the city. There is also a small Jewish center that city officials and private citizens protected from destruction by one of the many housing and retail developers.
The Evangelical Lutheran Church, or the German Church , is the only Lutheran church in the city of Tashkent. On the street Sadyka Azimova, for more than a hundred years in the dense green shade of centuries-old trees stands the modest Gothic building of the German Church.The church was built in 1899 by the Tashkent Lutheran community, according to the project of the famous Tashkent architect and artist of the XIX century A.L. Benoit, with money from I. Krause. In Soviet times, the building was used as a warehouse. And at the end of the 70s of the XX century, the building was transferred to the leadership of the Tashkent Conservatory and after the restoration began to be used as a room for the opera studio of the conservatory.At the same time, an organ was installed in the building and organ music concerts were regularly held there. In the 90s of the XX century, the building was transferred to the newly created Lutheran community of the city. The church was built of brown-yellow brick with a layout in the spirit of the Baltic church architecture: the style of this building belonged to neo-Gothic architecture.The interior of the church is more modest than in the Catholic church. Also in Lutheran temples there are such traditional attributes as: crucifix, sacred fire (lamp) and candles.The main parishioners of the church are Tashkent Germans. During the revolution, there were quite a lot of them in Tashkent. Most of the visiting Germans were in the royal service – they were officers. Today, the church, which still works today, is visited by their descendants, as well as visiting foreigners. The service in the Lutheran church is based on the traditions of the Catholic Mass, but is more simplified.
Global Connect.com
I also noticed a Wendy’s franchise under construction. It is amazing the pace of development in Tashkent. All over the city huge housing developments, shopping centers, restaurants, etc. It will be a much different city years 5-10 years from now.
Bill's Blog 