The Karakalpakstan State Museum of Art named after I.V. Savitsky
The Karakalpakstan State Museum of Art named after I.V. Savitsky
The Karakalpakstan State Museum of Art named after I.V. Savitsky
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Detailed Reviews: Reviews order informed by descriptiveness of user-identified themes such as cleanliness, atmosphere, general tips and location information.
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4.5
228 reviews
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RG-B19
Ashford-in-the-Water, UK72 contributions
Feb 2020
This was my third visit to Nukus, and finally found time to visit the Savitsky Museum. As is the case with much in Nukus, this is a very understated place, but is absolutely huge, and really reflects the ambitions of a previously sleepy ex-soviet region.
While I am not a huge art lover, the displays of traditional artefacts, and the history of the region were well worth the $5 entrance fee.
There were countless guides available if needed, but I am a bit old school, and like to make my own way.
I will certainly visit again should I be back in Nukus next year.
While I am not a huge art lover, the displays of traditional artefacts, and the history of the region were well worth the $5 entrance fee.
There were countless guides available if needed, but I am a bit old school, and like to make my own way.
I will certainly visit again should I be back in Nukus next year.
Written February 8, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Ruthven22
North West England, UK412 contributions
Apr 2012 • Friends
The Karakalpakstan Museum of Art houses the Savitsky Collection, as well as many other less remarkable exhibits. This is the world's second largest collection of Russian avant garde art after St. Petersburg.
Savitsky was a Russian artist shunned by the Soviet authorities from the 1930-s onwards, who started collecting the drawings and paintings of similarly banished artists in Central Asia, Russia and including those of the Uzbek school, and, during the late-1950s/early-1960s, those of the Russian avant garde which the Soviet authorities were destroying. Presently the museum also houses the works of contemporary Uzbek and Karakalpak artists.
The Museum may be one of the few places in the world where Russian avant garde art hangs alongside that of Socialist Realism. It demonstrates beautifully how artists left to themselves, isolated from Western schools and interchange of ideas, nonetheless developed styles very original and yet quite similar to those to be found in Paris, Berlin and elsewhere.
Well worth a major detour - we travelled 120 kms from Khiva to see it, and it was worth every minute of it.
The museum cafe is very hospitable if not luxurious, so you don't have to go into town if you don't want to.
Savitsky was a Russian artist shunned by the Soviet authorities from the 1930-s onwards, who started collecting the drawings and paintings of similarly banished artists in Central Asia, Russia and including those of the Uzbek school, and, during the late-1950s/early-1960s, those of the Russian avant garde which the Soviet authorities were destroying. Presently the museum also houses the works of contemporary Uzbek and Karakalpak artists.
The Museum may be one of the few places in the world where Russian avant garde art hangs alongside that of Socialist Realism. It demonstrates beautifully how artists left to themselves, isolated from Western schools and interchange of ideas, nonetheless developed styles very original and yet quite similar to those to be found in Paris, Berlin and elsewhere.
Well worth a major detour - we travelled 120 kms from Khiva to see it, and it was worth every minute of it.
The museum cafe is very hospitable if not luxurious, so you don't have to go into town if you don't want to.
Written May 26, 2012
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Ol R
London, UK246 contributions
Nov 2015 • Solo
Nukus is a long way from anywhere, which is why Igor Savitsky was able to amass such a collection of Soviet era avant garde art, nobody could be bothered to check he was towing the Party line. That he also supported Karakalpakstan culture meant that the regional bureaucrats were sympathetic to his goals.
The result is the second largest collection of Russian avant garde art in the world, and probably the best. The Museum is also the best (only?) reason to go to Karakalpakstan, it is a brutally harsh country, teetering on the brink of ecological disaster (read about the Aral Sea and weep)
The collection is vast and what is on display is breath-taking, hopefully it will soon be rehoused in a building that doesn't leak (we visited after a rain storm and a lot of pictures had had to be moved)
There are also fascinating archaeological and cultural collections, though sadly the best pieces were looted for The Hermitage collection in St Petersburg
The other problem is that the Director (Marinika Babanazarova) is currently facing accusations of corruption. It seems that these are trumped charges because she doesn't tow the Tashkent party line.
If you are in Nukus you must see this collection - At the time I said I felt as if a door had been opened on a world I barely realised existed. There are no national collections in London to match this, in quality or quantity.
To do the archaeological, cultural and art collections justice requires a lot of time, days (so bring sandwiches) and a bit of reading up in advance, otherwise you may be overwhelmed.
The result is the second largest collection of Russian avant garde art in the world, and probably the best. The Museum is also the best (only?) reason to go to Karakalpakstan, it is a brutally harsh country, teetering on the brink of ecological disaster (read about the Aral Sea and weep)
The collection is vast and what is on display is breath-taking, hopefully it will soon be rehoused in a building that doesn't leak (we visited after a rain storm and a lot of pictures had had to be moved)
There are also fascinating archaeological and cultural collections, though sadly the best pieces were looted for The Hermitage collection in St Petersburg
The other problem is that the Director (Marinika Babanazarova) is currently facing accusations of corruption. It seems that these are trumped charges because she doesn't tow the Tashkent party line.
If you are in Nukus you must see this collection - At the time I said I felt as if a door had been opened on a world I barely realised existed. There are no national collections in London to match this, in quality or quantity.
To do the archaeological, cultural and art collections justice requires a lot of time, days (so bring sandwiches) and a bit of reading up in advance, otherwise you may be overwhelmed.
Written November 24, 2015
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Caroline F
Tashkent, Uzbekistan35 contributions
Oct 2021 • Friends
Big disappointment. Very small part of the collection is available to the public as the rest of closed for renovations which could last for two years. Pieces of work are at times oddly organized. Translation into English is poor. These beautiful masterpieces look totally unloved. What a disappointment!
Written October 31, 2021
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Martin-Moskau
Moskau, Russland17 contributions
Apr 2014 • Solo
Come and see this museum with it's extraordinary collection of former forbidden art. Before i came to Uzbekistan friends mentioned this museum as a must see and i can do the same! Come and visit this place! Around the museum you can meet young people of the region. They all want to practice their english skills and they will be happy about a good conversation. I hope the government safes this museum for the world and won't sell the masterpieces to art dealers around the world.
Written May 1, 2014
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
evakama
Andorra185 contributions
Oct 2013 • Friends
Nukus, Karakalpakstan’s main city, was a closed city ordered up by insane bureaucrats in faraway Moscow to service a biochemical- warfare laboratory erected on an island in the Aral Sea but Nukus became famous not by dried Aral Sea ether by great scientist and painter Igor Savitsky (1917-1984) who had open the Nukus Museum in 1966 and started to collect not only folk art but he discovered a forgotten group of artists moved to Uzbekistan escaped KGB censors. Marinika Babanazarova, the director of the Savitsky Museum in Nukus, really a big art-expert and nice person ever I met, told me the last words of Igor Savitsky were
“I like to think of my museum as a keeper of the artists’ souls”
Very exciting, unbelievable: one of the best of avant-garde Western art collection in the world.
“I like to think of my museum as a keeper of the artists’ souls”
Very exciting, unbelievable: one of the best of avant-garde Western art collection in the world.
Written December 1, 2013
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Pierluigi L
Turin, Italy61 contributions
Oct 2012 • Solo
The museum is very nice. There three sections concerning archeology of Karakalpakstan, applied arts and fine arts. All the sections are worth to be visited but surely the museum is known for the fine art section. There are some beautiful works from Uzbek and Russian Artists. The main attractiveness of the museum is surely related with its history and establishment and it is surely worth to visit and celebrate Igor Savinsky's vision.
In my opinion, it is not worth to visit Nukus only for the museum. Karakalpakstan is a very interesting cultural/environmental place and Savinsky museum is a optimal visit to do in a more complex itinerary.
In my opinion, it is not worth to visit Nukus only for the museum. Karakalpakstan is a very interesting cultural/environmental place and Savinsky museum is a optimal visit to do in a more complex itinerary.
Written October 23, 2012
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Alex W
Singapore, Singapore1,451 contributions
Oct 2019
Guide books having advised that there is nothing else in the town of Nukus to stay for, I decided to do this museum (commonly known as the Igor V Savitsky museum) as a day trip from Khiva. Now that I've had a taste of it, I'd say that if you're seriously interested in art, it may be better to stay overnight in Nukus to allow more time for the museum (more details about itinerary below). If you just want a taste of the museum, a day trip is fine but pack some food and drink.
Gallery 1 (on the 1st floor) is Uzbek art, including a handful of archeological finds, folk and applied art and early 20th century painting featuring a nascent Uzbek style. Paintings are not really fantastic, but here and there you’ll have the thrill of recognizing what you’ve just seen in Samarkand, Bukhara or elsewhere in the country.
Gallery 2 has Savitsky’s own paintings and his collection of early 20th century Russian art with very fascinating styles – different artists have wildly differing styles, indicating the experimental and avant-garde spirit of the age. A few items from Ancient Egypt seem out of place though.
Nukus appears to be a hopelessly dispiriting town. Straight streets, scattered shops, no street life. I couldn't even find a convenience store near the museum to buy a bottle of water. However, for staying overnight, Jipek Joli hotel is just one block north of the museum.
Pay either 48,000 som to visit one gallery (i.e. either gallery 1 or gallery 2), or 72,000 som for both galleries.Using a camera will need extra payment, but you can use your phone camera for free. The museum is open every day, but do check its website for specific (and variable) closing times.
I was staying in Khiva, about 200km by road from Nukus. I found a driver from a shop just inside the north gate of Khiva's walled city who quoted USD40 for the entire trip. The plan was to drive to Nukus, wait for me while I visited the museum, then a meal break, then drive back to Khiva the same day.
The guidebooks said the journey would take 3 hours one-way, so we started off at 8:30am. Halfway and in the middle of the desert, we found the highway blocked for roadworks and we had to do a huge detour of maybe an extra 10 - 15km. Between this and the condition of the road, the drive to Nukus took four hours, not three. My driver was careful to observe speed limits too, whereas we saw other cars speeding along recklessly. With unexpected holes in the road, it seemed quite unsafe to do so. So, perhaps other drivers can do it in three hours, but I'd say there'd be risks involved. Also, there were police stops and at one stop, a bribe for asked for. If you're caught speeding, the chance of being held up gets higher. The time spent negotiating the bribe and the amount paid may make a fast three-hour drive an unwise proposition.
Similarly my drive back was 4 hours.
Inclusive of the 3 hours in the museum and a 30-minute refreshment break, the day trip took a total of 12 hours; I didn't get back to my hotel in Khiva till nearly 9pm. Fortunately, the little restaurant near my hotel was still open, otherwise there'd be no dinner (Khiva closes early). This is why I think that if I had to do it again, I'd stay overnight in Nukus, especially on some days, the museum closes early, at 4pm.
Drivers may propose additional detours and stops along the route (additional charges) to look at heaps of stones otherwise known as historical sights. Don’t bother. I saw two of them from a distance and I’d say, don’t bother. Detours only use up precious time.
Gallery 1 (on the 1st floor) is Uzbek art, including a handful of archeological finds, folk and applied art and early 20th century painting featuring a nascent Uzbek style. Paintings are not really fantastic, but here and there you’ll have the thrill of recognizing what you’ve just seen in Samarkand, Bukhara or elsewhere in the country.
Gallery 2 has Savitsky’s own paintings and his collection of early 20th century Russian art with very fascinating styles – different artists have wildly differing styles, indicating the experimental and avant-garde spirit of the age. A few items from Ancient Egypt seem out of place though.
Nukus appears to be a hopelessly dispiriting town. Straight streets, scattered shops, no street life. I couldn't even find a convenience store near the museum to buy a bottle of water. However, for staying overnight, Jipek Joli hotel is just one block north of the museum.
Pay either 48,000 som to visit one gallery (i.e. either gallery 1 or gallery 2), or 72,000 som for both galleries.Using a camera will need extra payment, but you can use your phone camera for free. The museum is open every day, but do check its website for specific (and variable) closing times.
I was staying in Khiva, about 200km by road from Nukus. I found a driver from a shop just inside the north gate of Khiva's walled city who quoted USD40 for the entire trip. The plan was to drive to Nukus, wait for me while I visited the museum, then a meal break, then drive back to Khiva the same day.
The guidebooks said the journey would take 3 hours one-way, so we started off at 8:30am. Halfway and in the middle of the desert, we found the highway blocked for roadworks and we had to do a huge detour of maybe an extra 10 - 15km. Between this and the condition of the road, the drive to Nukus took four hours, not three. My driver was careful to observe speed limits too, whereas we saw other cars speeding along recklessly. With unexpected holes in the road, it seemed quite unsafe to do so. So, perhaps other drivers can do it in three hours, but I'd say there'd be risks involved. Also, there were police stops and at one stop, a bribe for asked for. If you're caught speeding, the chance of being held up gets higher. The time spent negotiating the bribe and the amount paid may make a fast three-hour drive an unwise proposition.
Similarly my drive back was 4 hours.
Inclusive of the 3 hours in the museum and a 30-minute refreshment break, the day trip took a total of 12 hours; I didn't get back to my hotel in Khiva till nearly 9pm. Fortunately, the little restaurant near my hotel was still open, otherwise there'd be no dinner (Khiva closes early). This is why I think that if I had to do it again, I'd stay overnight in Nukus, especially on some days, the museum closes early, at 4pm.
Drivers may propose additional detours and stops along the route (additional charges) to look at heaps of stones otherwise known as historical sights. Don’t bother. I saw two of them from a distance and I’d say, don’t bother. Detours only use up precious time.
Written October 24, 2019
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
FerVit
Geneva, Switzerland140 contributions
Apr 2019 • Friends
This place was a surprise as we were taken to this unlikely city off the beaten track for this museum... and it was worth the detour!
Superb collection of soviet avant-garde paintings, sprawled over two buildings (and they only display about 3% of the whole collection...).
We did not expect to spend much time and ended up spending three hours in both buildings, as we were so touched by the art.
There is currently no catalogue available, but it should be reprinted soon (but how soon is soon?)
Superb collection of soviet avant-garde paintings, sprawled over two buildings (and they only display about 3% of the whole collection...).
We did not expect to spend much time and ended up spending three hours in both buildings, as we were so touched by the art.
There is currently no catalogue available, but it should be reprinted soon (but how soon is soon?)
Written May 8, 2019
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Abf500
Edgware, UK9 contributions
Aug 2017 • Friends
We were incredibly lucky - the new building opened the very day we had arranged to see it. We were even interviewed several times by journalists covering the opening ceremony! It really is full of spectacular and varied art, and is worth the visit (combined with an Aral Sea trip). I can see why people have been very disappointed when the whole museum hasn't been open - one day earlier, and we would have missed out on much of the best art. The website is useless, ignore it completely. The best way to get info may be to contact the well-run Jopik Joli hotel, just down the road.
Written August 30, 2017
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
come si arriva al museo dall'aeroporto ?
Stay792639
Skokie, IL9 contributions
Ci sarano taxi assettando all'uscita dell'aeroporto.
Bisogna discutare il prezzo prima di partire, ma
non sono costosi.
Ellen M
18 contributions
Does the museum and gift shop accept credit cards or cash only? Thank you.
seascape100
Chicago, IL354 contributions
Most of Uzbekistan was cash only so I would not count on the museum accepting credit cards.
Ingre P
1 contribution
Hello! Could You please inform me how You drived to Nukus from Tashkent? Is it ok rent a car?
Thank You!
Khurmatulla
Tashkent, Toshkent City, Uzbekistan207 contributions
Too long distance. About 1200 km. You cannot take car for rent here in Uzbekistan. You can just buy taxi services.
Better to fly by plane
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Claim your listingThe Karakalpakstan State Museum of Art named after I.V. Savitsky - All You Need to Know BEFORE You Go (with Photos)
Frequently Asked Questions about The Karakalpakstan State Museum of Art named after I.V. Savitsky
- Hotels near The Karakalpakstan State Museum of Art named after I.V. Savitsky:
- (0.10 mi) Family Guest House Friends-J
- (0.14 mi) Hotel Jipek Joli
- (0.14 mi) Hotel Jipek - Joli 2
- (0.14 mi) Jipek Joli Inn
- (0.32 mi) Pana Hotel
- Restaurants near The Karakalpakstan State Museum of Art named after I.V. Savitsky:
- (0.06 mi) Cinnamon Coffee & Pastry
- (0.11 mi) Restaurant Sofram
- (0.14 mi) Jipek Joli Restaurant
- (0.32 mi) Mj Lounge
- (0.42 mi) Premier Lounge
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