The Nukus Museum of Art, or more properly the State Museum of Arts of the Republic of Karakalpakstan named after I.V. Savitsky (, , ), is located in Nukus, Karakalpakstan. It possesses the world’s second largest collection of Russian avant-garde artworks, as well as galleries of antiquities and Karakalpak folk art. In total, there are more than 82,000 items in the museum’s collection. The museum was described by The Guardian as the Louvre of Uzbekistan. History of the museum The Nukus Museum of Art was established in 1966 at the behest of Igor Savitsky, who became the museum’s first curator. Initially the museum exhibited archaeological finds from Karakalpakstan, including from the Khorezm Fortresses; copies of classical antiquities; and folk art from Karakalpakstan. The majority of exhibits were collected personally by Savitsky. Savitsky wanted to inspire the next generation of Karakalpak artists, and he began collecting works by modern Central Asian artists. He also purchased artworks by Russian artists who had painted in, or were influenced by, Central Asia. These included works of Constructivism, Cubism, Futurism, and Neo-Primitivism which had been banned by Stalin in the 1930s and were considered to be degenerate forms of art. The Karakalpak authorities had “some awareness” of what Savitsky was acquiring, but did not restrict his work as a curator. The vast majority of artworks collected by Savitsky were never put on show in the museum. It was not until Perestroika in 1985, a year after his death, and then the independence of Uzbekistan in 1991, that the full extent of the collection, and its importance, was realised. A new building was constructed for the Nukus Museum of Art in 2003, and the site has since been expanded with two additional buildings. These included much-needed additional exhibition space and also a purpose-built archive and storage centre. Avant-garde art The avant-garde art collection at Nukus Museum of Art is one of the finest in the world, second in size only to that of the Russian Museum in Saint Petersburg. In total, the museum has around 10,000 avant-garde artworks, including paintings, prints, sculptures, and graphics. Nukus Museum of Art has approximately 100 paintings by Alexander Volkov, more than any other museum in the world. Considered to be the father of Uzbek avant-garde, Volkov experimented with Cubism and Constructivism. Just one of these paintings would reach as much as £2 million at auction. The museum also has 1,000