Lebanese architect Lina Ghotmeh is spearheading the transformation of a historic house in Bukhara into the Jadids’ Legacy Museum, a site dedicated to the reformist intellectual movement in Central Asia.
Drawing its name from the Arabic and Persian word for "new", the Jadids were active in the late 19th and 20th centuries, holding principles that resonate well into the contemporary era.
The movement arose in the context of Russian imperial rule, advocating modernisation through education, while preserving Islamic and cultural identity. It promoted literacy, social reform and rationalism, incorporating arithmetic, geography, natural sciences and literary studies within religious curricula. In many ways, the Jadids lay the foundation for modern education systems across Central Asia.
The Jadids’ Legacy Museum will showcase the contributions and enduring impact of the movement, displaying manuscripts, artefacts and portraits.
An initiative by Uzbekistan’s Art and Culture Development Foundation, the project is scheduled to open in 2027 and comes as part of a wider effort to preserve and re-examine the country’s national heritage, while also putting it in an international spotlight.
The museum will be housed in a historic structure that was once the home of Usmon Khodjaev, the first president of the Bukhara People’s Republic and a seminal figure of the Jadid movement. Khodjaev played an active role in establishing several Jadid schools in the early 20th century. Upon his return to Uzbekistan from Turkey in 1913, he helped form the Young Bukharans, a group of like-minded intellectuals who sought to transform the historic city in Uzbekistan.
His house in Bukhara, situated near Lyabi-Hauz – a 17th-century square and gathering space – features several key elements from Uzbekistan’s architectural heritage. These include intricate woodworks and finely-painted ornamentation, as well as niches that emerge with geometric sequences, known as muqarna. Ghotmeh intends to preserve many of these elements within the museum, in an architectural approach that balances conservation with renewal.
“I’m really fascinated by craft,” she tells The National. “This house is really a jewel for craft.”
The house was subject to several alterations, which obscured its original character. Ghotmeh intends to remove many of these additions for the museum, making larger spaces for its facilities, including a library and exhibition areas.
“I’m keeping the shell of the place and keeping the essence of what has been the valued history of this place,” she says. “So basically, a lot of the rooms, we can see that they added bathrooms, and then there are the partitions, all those are elements that could be removed.”
Like with many traditional houses, the structure is built around a courtyard, which has been subdivided by a raised platform. In her redesign, Ghotmeh intends to restore the courtyard’s openness, turning it into a more inviting communal area.
The idea, she says, is to “create more porosity, more openness to this courtyard and allow it to become more of an interactive space".
The Jadids’ Legacy Museum is a natural continuation of Ghotmeh’s oeuvre. Her practice, which she has previously described as "archeology of the future", is informed by meticulous research into history and cultural memory.
As with her past works, which include Beirut’s Stone Garden and the Serpentine Pavilion in London, Ghotmeh carefully considered the context of the museum, what it intends to be as well as the historical structure it is housed in.
“Before starting anything, I was just digging into the archives,” she says. “I wanted to understand the topology of this house, looking at the history of the Jadids and connect all the elements together. I wanted to see how to exhibit the collection in a contemporary manner. This is so much about my also work like this, archeologist, bringing the past into the future and making it very much relevant in the present today.”
Conversing with local experts is a central aspect of Ghotmeh’s process. The architect toured Uzbekistan, meeting with several scholars and historians familiar with the Jadid movement. She also aims to work with local artisans in the restoration of the house. These include Abdulvahid Bukhoriy, the Bukharian ceramic artist, whose Blue Room is currently on display as part of the Bukhara Biennial.
“Working with locals is important. I think my role here is just a vessel to put this back on an international map,” Ghotmeh says, adding that there is a lot to glean from the Jadids movement, which holds special relevance today.
“It was a reformist movement, an awakening,” she says. “It was deeply respectful of religion, of Islam, yet also bringing in the importance of education, the importance of literature, of arts. It was an integral part of understanding the Islamic religion and, of course, the emancipation of women at that time and their role as central to making a society.
“It’s super contemporary when you look at it,” she adds. “It is essential to our societies today, and to understand that religion is not about enclosement. It’s about seeking knowledge and being able to live in a coherent society of diversity and gender.”
