SEVENTY - SECOND HALF (1976 - 1979). THE HEYDAY OF TASHKENT AND THE TRAGEDY OF PAKHTAKOR
IN APRIL 1976, TEN YEARS PASSED SINCE THE TASHKENT EARTHQUAKE. OVER THE YEARS, THE UZBEK AUTHORITIES DID ALL THEY COULD TO VIRTUALLY BUILD A NEW CITY CENTRE, WHICH BECAME A REAL MASTERPIECE OF ARCHITECTURE.
Anyone who visited the city for the first time was amazed. When Alla Pugacheva came to Tashkent for the first time on a tour in March 1977, she was impressed by its beauty. On the way from the airport to the hotel, she repeated: "How beautiful!"
Year after year, the number of tourists from different countries visiting Uzbekistan steadily increased. In this field, the republic was the leader in Central Asia and third in the USSR after the RSFSR and Ukraine. Therefore, Alla Pugacheva was not the only person struck by the appearance of Tashkent in the 1970s.
MEXICAN DIRECTOR J. ESTRADA: "FROM THE VERY FIRST HOURS, TASHKENT CHARMED ME WITH THE SHADY GREENERY OF ITS GARDENS AND SQUARES, THE BEAUTY OF RESIDENTIAL NEIGHBORHOODS. THIS BLOOMING, HAPPY CAPITAL, DIRECTED TO THE FUTURE, IS STRIKINGLY DIFFERENT FROM MUCH OF WHAT I HAVE SEEN IN THE CITIES OF MY NATIVE CONTINENT."
ARCHITECT FROM ITALY, PROFESSOR I. COLOMBO: "I WAS VERY IMPRESSED BY THE RECONSTRUCTION OF THE CENTRE OF TASHKENT. IT AROUSES GREAT INTEREST IN ALL FOREIGN SPECIALISTS WORKING ON THE RECONSTRUCTION OF AND CONSTRUCTION OF NEW BUILDINGS IN OLD CITIES WITH ESTABLISHED ARCHITECTURAL TRADITIONS. YOU HAVE MADE GREAT PROGRESS IN THE USE OF LARGE PANELS IN HOUSE CONSTRUCTION. THIS EXPERIENCE DESERVES ATTENTION."
ARCHITECT FROM ITALY, PROFESSOR I. COLOMBO: "I WAS VERY IMPRESSED BY THE RECONSTRUCTION OF THE CENTRE OF TASHKENT. IT AROUSES GREAT INTEREST IN ALL FOREIGN SPECIALISTS WORKING ON THE RECONSTRUCTION OF AND CONSTRUCTION OF NEW BUILDINGS IN OLD CITIES WITH ESTABLISHED ARCHITECTURAL TRADITIONS. YOU HAVE MADE GREAT PROGRESS IN THE USE OF LARGE PANELS IN HOUSE CONSTRUCTION. THIS EXPERIENCE DESERVES ATTENTION."
JOURNALIST FROM FRANCE A. RUSSET: "TASHKENT IS A WONDERFUL, MODERN CITY. LIKE SAMARKAND, IT HAS MANY HISTORICAL MONUMENTS. AND YET THE CAPITAL OF UZBEKISTAN IS NOT INFERIOR TO MODERN CITIES IN FRANCE, ITALY AND SPAIN. I WAS VERY IMPRESSED BY THE ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN OF NOT ONLY ADMINISTRATIVE BUILDINGS, BUT ALSO RESIDENTIAL HOUSES. I WOULD CALL TASHKENT ONE OF THE MOST BEAUTIFUL CITIES."
Restored after the earthquake, Tashkent is one of the legacies that Sharaf Rashidov left. But this is not the only brainchild of Sharaf Rashidov. he also devoted all of himself to Pakhtakor. Unfortunately, in August 1979, a tragedy happened to the football team.
On the way to Minsk, the airplane carrying the players, second coach, administrator and team doctor collided with another plane in the sky of Ukraine, near the city of Dneprodzerzhinsk.
The event shocked the entire USSR. Sharaf Rashidov took this tragedy as if it was his personal one. People say that for more than an hour he sat in his office in the Central Committee and did not let anyone in – he did not want anyone to see his condition. Later, he contacted one of the leaders of the KGB of Uzbekistan and asked to find out the details of the disaster. It became known that the collision was dispatchers' fault, and they were subsequently sentenced to a 15-year imprisonment.
The memory of the Pakhtakor team is still in the hearts of Uzbek people. A memorial was erected in their honour at the Botkin Cemetery.
The event shocked the entire USSR. Sharaf Rashidov took this tragedy as if it was his personal one. People say that for more than an hour he sat in his office in the Central Committee and did not let anyone in – he did not want anyone to see his condition. Later, he contacted one of the leaders of the KGB of Uzbekistan and asked to find out the details of the disaster. It became known that the collision was dispatchers' fault, and they were subsequently sentenced to a 15-year imprisonment.
The memory of the Pakhtakor team is still in the hearts of Uzbek people. A memorial was erected in their honour at the Botkin Cemetery.
