State Museum of Applied Arts of Uzbekistan

Set within a former merchant's mansion whose rooms are themselves richly decorated, this Tashkent museum showcases the finest traditional crafts of Uzbekistan. Its galleries display embroidered suzani textiles, glazed ceramics, carved and painted woodwork, metal chasing, jewellery and hand-woven carpets gathered from across the country's craft centres. The building's carved plaster ganch, painted ceilings and stained glass make it as much an exhibit as a container.