The State Museum of Arts of Uzbekistan was founded in 1918 as the People’s University Museum. Until 1935 it was housed in Prince Romanov’s palace in Tashkent. From 1935–1966 it occupied the People’s House building, and after the earthquake it was located in the building that now houses the Tashkent House of Photography.

In 1974, on the site of the demolished People’s House, young architects I. A. Abdulov, A. K. Nikiforov, and S. A. Rozenblyum built a new and unusual museum building — a huge blue cube. The faces of the cube are clad with aluminium squares and “stivit” fibreglass material that lets in soft diffused light.

The entrance portal, basement level, and inner atrium are finished in grey marble.

At first the building seemed unusual, but Tashkent residents soon grew accustomed to it and came to love it — today it is impossible to imagine the intersection of Amir Temur and Shahrisabz streets without this museum.

During the years of independence, a reconstruction was carried out: columns and arches were added to the upper part, which caused the original brutalist appearance to be lost.

In 2024, the museum building was included in the list of cultural heritage sites of Uzbekistan.

As of now (2025), the museum is closed for reconstruction.