Kokand was the capital of the third of Uzbekistan's three 19th-century khanates (after Bukhara and Khiva). Khudayar Khan built his palace between 1863 and 1873 — the last major princely palace in Central Asia before Russian conquest ended the khanate era.
Scale: originally 7 courtyards and 114 rooms, of which 27 survive after Bolshevik-era demolitions. What remains is enough to convey the flavour: floor-to-ceiling glazed tilework in the local Fergana style (looser and more figurative than Samarkand or Bukhara), carved wooden columns, painted ceilings.
Notable rooms: - Throne room — with 19th-century Russian wallpaper next to Uzbek majolica, a fascinating late-Silk Road hybrid. - Harem — where four legal wives and 43 concubines lived. Now used for temporary exhibitions. - Reception iwan — the exterior facade of glazed tile is one of the most photographed views in Fergana.
The palace fell to General Skobelev's Russian forces in 1876. Khudayar Khan was exiled to Mecca where he died in 1882. His grandson Umar Khan, aged 18, briefly restored independence in the 1918 Kokand Autonomy — snuffed out by the Red Army within 60 days.
Kokand is 2–3 hours from Tashkent by train, or 1 hour from Fergana city by shared taxi.
Fergana Valley in photos
A short visual companion to this entry — photographs of Fergana Valley from our travel archive.
Related entries
- Places
Margilan: 2,000 years of Uzbek silk
Margilan in the Fergana Valley has been a silk-weaving centre since the 1st century CE. Two working workshops — Yodgorlik and Said Ahmad Hoja — welcome visitors and still make ikat by hand.
- Places
Rishton pottery: turquoise clay of the Fergana Valley
Rishton has produced blue-glazed ceramics since the 9th century, from a naturally red clay under the town and an ash-based glaze made from mountain plants. ~1,000 potters still work here today.
- History
The Khanate of Kokand (1709–1876)
A Fergana Valley state that controlled eastern Uzbekistan, parts of Kyrgyzstan and southern Kazakhstan until Russian conquest in 1876. The Khudayar Khan Palace is its architectural legacy.
- Places
Amir Timur Museum: Timurid history in Tashkent
A domed museum on Amir Timur Square containing manuscripts, weapons, coins, and 3D models tracing Timur's empire from Samarkand to Anatolia.
- Places
Ayaz Kala: 2,000-year-old desert fortress
50-plus mud-brick fortresses in the Kyzylkum desert, built between the 4th century BCE and 7th century CE by the ancient Khorezmian civilisation. Ayaz Kala is the most photogenic.
- Places
Aydarkul: an accidental desert lake
A 3,000 km² freshwater lake created accidentally in 1969 when the Chardara reservoir on the Syr Darya overflowed into a depression. Now the main yurt-camp destination in Uzbekistan.