May 19, 2025: A Visit to a Different “Stan” !

May 19, 2025 cjbishop@yahoo.com

Our trip is sold as a visit to the “Five Stans”. However we will be visiting a 6th “Stan” although it is not an official country. We are going to the capital of the autonomous region of Karakalpakstan, home of the Karakalpaks, a Turkic people more closely related to Kazakhs than to Uzbeks. We are headed to Nukus where cotton is king and a shrinking Aral Sea has decimated the local fishing industry.

Education for the day: What is an “autonomous” region? An autonomous region is a part of a country that has a degree of self-governance and can make decisions independently from the central government.

Karakalpakstan is in the northwest portion of Uzbekistan and has a population of about 2 million. The people are referred to as the “black hats” because of the distinctive black hats worn by the men. It was a thriving agricultural and fishing area but both industries are in trouble. They have relied heavily on irrigation for their crops and global warming plus Turkmenistan’s building of a major water canal that will divert more water will make water even more of an issue in the future. Also the dramatic shrinking of the Aral Sea has virtually killed the fishing industry in the country. The area borders on the edge of a desert which does not help matters.

The latest snack Furkat passed around as we rode to Nukus.

We were told that these are ancient burial grounds.

And some fairly modern looking apartments. The city itself seems new and modern.

We are here to visit the famous Igor Savitsky museum complex, often called the “Louvre in the sands” it is really several collections and we will visit both.

A bit of background on Igor Savitsky. He was born in Ukraine in 1915 and was initially trained to be an electrician. He took private drawing lessons and after 1934 took further studies in art. He visited Nukus in 1950, fell in love with it and lived there until he died in 1984. In the late 50’s and early 60’s he collected Karakalpak cultural items and convinced the locals to create what is now the Nukus museum. He was the curator. His other passion was collecting avant garde works of Russian painters (most of whom were exiled by Stalin and other Russian rulers). Quite often families of former banned painters gave Savitsky paintings of the outlawed painters for the museum. There is supposedly an excellent documentary called “Desert of Forbidden Art” that documents his endeavor.

We first went to a building that contains the archeological, cultural and folk art artifacts of the Karakalpakstan people, a former nomadic culture.

Part of the Igor Savitsky Museum complex that houses artifacts of the Karakalpak culture.

Inside the museum that highlights cultural artifacts.

I could not resist taking a picture of the shoes worn by our local museum guide.

One of several displays of animals that live in the area.

The ancient burial process involved leaving the body exposed for the animals to eat. Bones are then collected and stored in an ossuary. This dates back to the 6-8th century.

Decorative sashes that are used on yurts.

Decorative jewelry worn by women. Each uniquely describe something about the person and where she is from.

Fellow travelers eager to buy $1 necklaces!

After lunch we then visited the art portion of the museum, which contains the second largest collection of Russian avant-garde art, second only to the Russian museum in St Petersburg.

Chicken soup as good as grandma used to make!

A little bit of everything served family style.

The Nukus art museum that houses the Savitsky collection.

Some background information about Igor Savitsky.

He feels pictures should be shown in a grouping.

A painting by Alexander Volkov one of over 100 that the museum has. Volkov was considered to be the best Russian avant garde painter of his time.

More Volkov paintings. These feature cotton, one of their major crops.

Back at the hotel we had a late afternoon lecture by a local scientist who discussed the tragic story of the demise of the Aral Sea and the ongoing problems with water in the area. The once thriving fishing industry is totally gone because of the demise of the Aral Sea.

Former professor, Yusup Kamalov, talking about the water issues in this part of the country.

Our afternoon speaker talking about the water issues in the area.

The dramatic disappearance of the Aral Sea over the last 50 years. It has been a major disaster.

The main water source in the area is the Amu Darya river. A new canal will divert more water to part of Turkmenistan, posing more problems for this area.

Dinner was at a nearby home restaurant where we were in for a bit of surprise. First as we approached the front door we were met by a group of men who performed several dances for us. Once inside, we were further entertained by a local ensemble who played traditional instruments, and sang traditional songs. All of this along with another great dinner and some local vodka!