About the project
A community guide to the monuments of Uzbekistan
Uzbekistan Heritage Guide collects photos, open history and locations for monuments across Uzbekistan so that visitors, students and locals can explore them with confidence.
What this platform is
This web app is a mobile-first guide to 25 monuments and 5 historic complexes in Uzbekistan. Every monument has its own page with pictures, a map and an audio-guide script; where several monuments stand together, a complex page introduces the site.
A location feature uses your phone's GPS to show which monuments are closest to you, so the guide works as a companion while you travel.
Why Uzbekistan's heritage matters
Uzbekistan's historic cities were centres of scholarship, architecture and trade on the Silk Road routes. The historic centres of Bukhara, Samarkand and Shakhrisabz and Khiva's Itchan Kala are UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
Understanding what each monument is and why it survived builds respect and curiosity — the first step in protecting heritage for the future.
Open data and sources
The audio-guide scripts are written for this project in English, Russian and Uzbek; the background sources are listed on the complex or monument page. Photos from Wikimedia Commons are credited to their author under each image.
Maps are provided by OpenStreetMap contributors.
Your data
Monuments near me: distances are calculated on your device. Your location is not sent to our servers.
Identify: the photo you choose is resized on your device, which removes any location stored in it, and then sent to an AI image-recognition service only to recognise the monument. This site does not keep it, and your location is never sent.
Ask the guide: your messages are sent to an AI service to write the reply and are not stored by this site. If you press "Share my location", your coordinates go to our server to measure distances; they are not passed to the AI service and are not kept.
Community-service purpose
The project supports student-led heritage outreach by making local culture engaging for classmates, families, and visitors. It is designed for presentations, school trips and everyday sightseeing.
Future features
- Walking routes between complexes
- Offline mode
- Opening hours and tickets