A Subway Built from an Ancient Seabed
The Tashkent Metro, the oldest subway system in Central Asia, is famous for its ornate stations, each a unique work of art. Opened in 1977, its halls feature grand chandeliers, complex mosaics, and columns of polished stone. Most commuters do not realize is that the very stone cladding these subterranean palaces connects to a prehistoric past. During its construction, Soviet planners sourced nearly 99% of the building materials locally, quarrying vast amounts of marble and granite from sites across Uzbekistan.
Many of the distinctive polished slabs come from quarries in the Kyzyl Kum desert, the Nurata region, and the Gazgan area. Specifically, the marble in the Mustakillik Maydoni (Independence Square) station was sourced from the Kyzyl Kum desert. This is significant because the Kyzyl Kum hosts the Bissekty Formation, a rock layer dating to the Late Cretaceous period. This formation is an exceptionally dense fossil bed, containing the remains of life from approximately 90 million years ago when a shallow sea covered the region. Another material, Aksakata marble, quarried near Tashkent, is officially described as having "shell-like patterns," hinting at its organic origins.