Mosaic Facades , Tashkent Uzbekistan

Tashkent is the capital of Uzbekistan and the largest city in central Asia. After a major earthquake struck the city on the 26th of April 1966 destroying much of its historic core, it was rebuilt in only 5 years by workers assembled from all over the Soviet Union. To rebuild Tashkent in the shortest time possible and to transform the formal traditional oriental town into a soviet model city, new methods of prefabrication and mass production were applied to the architecture.  

This series of images documents the collection of decorative facade mosaics which were used to break the monotony of the prefabricated concrete housing blocks. The mosaics are widely inspired by traditional geometric Islamic art, which is characteristic of the region. The theme was adapted by the soviet designers. Some mosaics also show propoganistic images of everyday life in socialism. Most of these mosaics were applied to nine story housing units. Their dimensions vary up to 12m x 25m.

Felix Heller