Uzbekistan, Tashkent, August 31 / Trend D. Azizov /
Bukhara has become a "great city" thanks to its dedicated, hardworking people, Uzbek President Islam Karimov said yesterday at the opening of the Bukhara Cultural Center.
The center opened on the eve of Independence Day. It includes the Regional Musical Drama Theater, an amphitheater and the Ancient and Eternal Bukhara Monument.
While visiting the theater, Karimov said contemporary cultural institutions help to increase the general public's artistic and cultural awareness.
The center's defining feature is the 18-meter Ancient and Eternal Bukhara Monument by Uzbek People's Artist, Academy of Arts Professor Ilkhom Jabbarov. The monument commemorates the great, ancient minds who once inhabited the area - Abu Ali ibn Sino, Narshahi Imam Bukhari, Abdulkholiq Gijduvani, Bahouddin Nakshband and Khoja Orif Revgari.
The president also visited a recently reconstructed school in Bukhara and the Bukhara Branch of the Turin Polytechnic University, which opened just before the holiday.