The Prosecutor General's Office of Uzbekistan has supported the position of the Cultural Heritage Agency on protecting House 7 on Bobur Street in Tashkent as a cultural heritage site. The agency's press service reported this. Earlier, the agency had appealed to the Prosecutor General's Office to provide a legal assessment of the resolution of former Tashkent mayor Jahongir Ortiqhojayev dated October 30, 2018, No. 1550.
By that resolution, the land plot where the 1936-built house is located—currently included in the National List of Material Cultural Heritage—was allocated to a private company for demolition and the construction of a multi-story residential building. This decision contradicted legislation on the protection of cultural heritage and sparked significant public outcry.
“In order to eliminate violations of legislation, the supervisory authority filed a lawsuit with the court demanding that the corresponding mayor's resolution be recognized as illegal,” the statement said. The Cultural Heritage Agency expressed gratitude to the prosecutor's office for its prompt response and principled stance on protecting the country's cultural and historical heritage.
“Article 61 of our Constitution clearly states that citizens are obliged to carefully preserve the historical, spiritual, cultural, scientific, and natural heritage of the people of Uzbekistan. The law is equal for everyone. Any attempts to destroy the country's cultural wealth for personal interests will be resolutely suppressed by us, strictly within the framework of the law. We will not allow the destruction of Uzbekistan's history,” emphasized Elmurod Najimov, First Deputy Director of the agency.
Recall that the mayor's resolution was adopted at a time when the building did not yet have the status of a material cultural heritage site. In August 2007, another mayor—Abduqahhor To‘xtayev—removed it from the national list (at that time, a total of 303 buildings were removed from the list). In early 2021, the Tashkent Interdistrict Administrative Court declared Abduqahhor To‘xtayev's resolution invalid. Shortly thereafter, the Cabinet of Ministers re-included House 7 in the national list.
According to historical and expert materials, House 7 is associated with the name of the prominent architect Aleksey Usev, who worked in Tashkent. Over the years, academics Toshmuhammad Qori Niyoziy and Vasiliy Shishkin, as well as specialists such as Rahim Otajonov and Natan Mallayev, lived here. This house is not only an architectural monument but also a cultural site preserving the memory of many scientific figures.
Source: www.gazeta.uz