Alisher Navo’i State Museum of Literature in Tashkent is a cultural, educational, and research institution dedicated to preserving and promoting the rich literary heritage of Uzbekistan. The museum was established in 1940 as a Republican Exhibition organized to commemorate the 500th anniversary of the birth of Alisher Navo’i.

From 1944 to 1968, the museum functioned as a department of the Institute of Language and Literature of the Academy of Sciences of Uzbekistan. Between 1968 and 1978, it operated as the Museum of Literature of the Academy of Sciences of Uzbekistan, and from 1978 to 1991 as the museum department of the H.S. Sulaymonov Institute of Manuscripts of the Academy of Sciences. Since 1991, it has been operating as the Alisher Navo’i State Museum of Literature of the Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Uzbekistan.

The museum’s permanent exhibition is displayed across 40 galleries and is organized into eight thematic sections. As of 1997, the museum’s collection comprised approximately 34,000 exhibits, including works on Uzbek literature, manuscript and lithographic books, audio recordings of traditional folk performers, decorative and applied arts, the carved wooden lattice created by A. Fayzullayev (1968), and twentieth-century ceramic artworks.

The exhibition dedicated to the Timurid Renaissance and the history of Uzbek literature begins with the life and works of Alisher Navo’i. Visitors can explore manuscript, photographic, and facsimile copies of Khamsa, miniature illustrations of its masterpieces, decorative artworks, portraits and sculptures of the poet, historical maps, rare publications, commemorative gifts, albums, ornamental plates, and traditional ceramic vessels.

One of the museum’s most remarkable treasures is a magnificent gold-thread carpet, woven in 1968 by fourteen master craftswomen from Bukhara. The carpet depicts Alisher Navo’i, Farhad and Shirin, and Layli and Majnun, reflecting the enduring legacy of classical Eastern literature.

The gallery devoted to Abdurahman Jami displays manuscript copies of his literary works produced in different historical periods.

Other exhibition halls feature valuable manuscripts by Hafiz, Nizami Ganjavi, Firdawsi, and Khosrow Dehlavi. Among the exhibits dedicated to Zahiriddin Muhammad Babur, special attention is drawn to the sculpture Babur by A. Grishchenko (1968) and the silk-woven Portrait of Babur created by F. Saydaliyeva in 1974.

The museum also presents manuscripts, poetry collections, and illustrations of the works of Zebuniso, Turdi, Nodira, Uvaysi, Mahzuna, and many other distinguished poets.

The galleries dedicated to modern literature include the exhibitions "Uzbek Literature of the 20th Century" and "Uzbek Literature of the Independence Period." These displays highlight the literary achievements and creative legacy of more than 200 Uzbek poets and writers.

Opening Hours
Daily: 8:00 a.m. – 12:00 midnight
Address
Alisher Navo’i State Museum of Literature
69 Navo’i Avenue, Shaykhantakhur District
Tashkent 100011
Republic of Uzbekistan
Telephone
+998 (71) 241-02-75