Cultural Heritage Agency comments on situation around Literature Museum building

Uzbekistan's Cultural Heritage Agency has responded to reports about the State Literature Museum named after Alisher Navoi in Tashkent. A new museum building is under construction in New Tashkent, and its collections are being temporarily moved to the Islamic Civilization Center and the Academy of Sciences' Institute of Anthropology.

Social media posts claimed the historic building at 69 Navoi Street had been handed to another organisation and could be damaged. On October 16 the agency said it had conducted a review. It stated that the building, in Shaykhantahur district, is on the national cultural heritage list and under state protection, and that the government had given it free operational use to the State Youth Theatre. According to the agency, a change of user does not alter its heritage status.

The facade repair project, approved at a meeting on May 18-20, 2026, has a first-stage budget of 4.6 billion soums and is under way. Interior murals by Ch. Akhmarov and T. Sadullayev will remain in place. First Deputy Director Elmurod Najimov said the building's transfer to the theatre does not remove it from state protection or permit its demolition.