Uzbekistan is the land of ancient culture. At the present time more than 200,000 tourists almost from 80 countries visit Uzbekistan every year. They want to see the remarkable monuments of the past in Bukhara, Samarkand, Khiva, Tashkent.

Bukhara is one of the ancient towns of Uzbekistan. The period of its existence is more than 2000 years. This period was noted for the development of craft, trade, literature, science and art. The outstanding poets Firdousi and Rudaki, the famous scholar Abu-Ali Ibn-Sina (Avicenna) and many others lived and worked there. Numerous mosques, madrasahs and mausoleums survived in Bukhara to the present time. Its masterpieces of architecture are the mausoleum of Ismail Samani, the Kalyan minaret, the madrasah of Ulugbek and others. They are famous not on ly in our country but abroad too. One more ancient town of Uzbekistan-Khiva-lies thirty-two kilometers from Urgench.

According to the archaeologists Khiva was founded in the 5th or 6th century. By the early 17th century, Khiva had become the capital of the Khanate of Khiva, ruled by a branch of the Astrakhans, a Genghisid dynasty. There many unique mosques, mausoleums and madrasahs in Khiva. They make Khiva a museum and attract many tourists.

At present 7056 monuments of art, archeology and nature are under state protection in Uzbekistan.1503 of them are architectural monuments. The Ichan-Kala complex in Khiva, the site of the ancient town of Afrasiyab in Samarkand and the center of ancient Bukhara are declared state reserves. They are relics of oriental architecture. More than 240 relics of the past were restored in the last years. There is a research design institute and a number of restoration workshops in Uzbekistan. They preserve and restore architectural monuments. Every year about six million roubles are spent on restoration of the monuments of ancient culture of Uzbekistan.