The shape is reminiscent of the section of a Greek column (a tambour). The 1960s were a time of international inspirations in Uzbekistan, so that the building's shape refers to the cosmopolite and universal status of Greek Antiquity. The quest for local origins and thus references to the region's own Greek history started in Uzbek architecture only later, in the 1970s. (Special thanks to Boris Chukhovich)

Heritage-listed since 1978, in use