Rishtan
Uzbekistan · Fergana Region · 471 m
Description
Rishtan makes the blue-green pottery that turns up on every table in Uzbekistan, and it makes it from clay that lies a metre under the whole town and can be thrown without being washed or blended. The colour comes from a glaze called ishkor, mixed from mineral pigment and the ash of a mountain plant, which no other centre in the country still uses at this scale. Several hundred workshops operate, and the ones with museums attached will take a visitor through shaping, painting and firing in an afternoon. The finished plates are stacked by the road out of town for anyone driving past.
Length of stay
Recommended length of stay: 1 day
Travel season
Best time to visit: April – May or September – October
- Jan
- Feb
- Mar
- Apr
- May
- Jun
- Jul
- Aug
- Sep
- Oct
- Nov
- Dec
Highlights
- Potters' workshops of the town
- Ishkor glaze made from plant ash
- Usmanov museum-workshop and its antique collection
- Master class at the wheel and the kiln
- Clay pit under the town
- Khoja Ilgor mosque and its open colonnade
- Ceramics stalls along the main road
- Kokand monuments up the valley(Day trip)
- Chaikhanas of the bazaar quarter
Getting there
- Nearest airports:
- FEG