Amir Timur Square and Museum

Every Tashkent taxi driver knows Amir Timur Square, and most of the city's main avenues radiate from it. It was laid out in 1882 as a public garden in the new Russian part of the city, and its monuments chart Tashkent's changing loyalties. A statue of Konstantin von Kaufman, the first governor-general of Turkestan, stood here in the tsarist years; later came figures of the Soviet era, including a statue of Stalin and, from 1968, a monument to Karl Marx. After independence the square was renamed and given the equestrian statue of Timur that stands at its centre today.

Timur, known in the West as Tamerlane, is presented here not as a conqueror but as a statesman, the founder of the empire whose capital was Samarkand. The bronze rider raises his hand over the crossroads, and the inscription on the pedestal carries his motto, often translated as "strength lies in justice". The plane trees around him are younger than they look: many old ones were felled in a controversial redesign of 2009, and the replanted park has been growing back ever since.

Around the square

• Hotel Uzbekistan (1974), the tall curved slab with a façade of concrete sun screens, the classic postcard view of Soviet Tashkent.
• The Palace of International Forums, opened in 2009 for state ceremonies and concerts.
• The Tashkent chimes, a clock tower that has marked the hours here since the 1940s.
• Sayilgoh Street, known locally as Broadway, a pedestrian street of cafés, painters and souvenir stalls running west from the square.

The Amir Timur Museum

On the south-western edge of the park, a round building under a ribbed turquoise dome houses the State Museum of the History of the Timurids, opened in 1996 for the 660th anniversary of Timur's birth. Inside, a monumental painted hall and galleries of manuscripts, models, weapons and paintings tell the story of Timur and his dynasty, including his grandson Ulugbek. It is more a statement of national history than a deep collection, but it is a good primer before Samarkand and Shakhrisabz. The museum usually closes on Mondays.

Come in the early evening, when the square is lit, families stroll under the trees and Broadway fills up. Amir Temur Xiyoboni metro station is beside the park.