Among the Tashkent minarets and blue domes of mosques, the eye necessarily stops at an unexpected Gothic silhouette for Central Asia. This is the Cathedral of the Sacred Heart of Jesus — the main Catholic church of Uzbekistan, better known among the townspeople as the “Polish church”.
The Cathedral of the Heart of Jesus is a majestic example of Neo—Gothic architecture: a tall, slightly gloomy facade with stained glass windows. The walls inside the temple are lined with granite and marble slabs, and all the doors and furniture are made of precious woods. Candlesticks, candelabra and other forged elements were made by Tashkent master Vladimir Pilipyuk.
In 1976, the church building, which then housed the dormitory, came under the care of the Republican Ministry of Culture, receiving the status of an architectural monument. A few years later, the authorities of independent Uzbekistan handed over the church to the Catholics of the city: the long-awaited consecration took place in 2000.
