The National Bank of Tajikistan (NBT) has announced the issuance of new banknotes in denomination of 10, 20, 50, 100, 200 and 500.
The NBT Board made a decision on the issuance of new banknotes of the mentioned denominations on November 16.
According to the NBT press center, the new banknotes will be in circulation on a par with banknotes issued in 2000, 2010, 2017, and 2018.
Judging by the changes that can be seen on the photo of the new 100-somoni banknote posted on the NBT’s website, the image of the former presidential palace on the banknote is replaced by the image of the Kokhi Navrouz State Complex.
The decision to demolish the former presidential palace, which had once been the headquarters of the Tajik Communist Party, was made in February 2020. Built in 1957 to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the October Revolution, the almond-colored neoclassical building was perceived by many to be inextricably linked to the country’s history. This historic building was demolished to make space for a new, Chinese government-funded palace that will be the centerpiece of a new government complex.
Demolition of historical buildings in Dushanbe began several years ago as part of ambitious municipal redevelopment plan that includes the construction of modern building and the first was the building of the Main Post Office.
The authorities then demolished the Mayakovsky Russian Drama Theater. Recall, the founding of the Tajik Soviet Socialist Republic was declared at the Mayakovsky Theater in 1929.
A string of high-profile demolitions soon followed across Dushanbe. There was the Jomi cinema, which when it was erected in the city’s main square in 1956 was one of only five panoramic cinemas in the Soviet Union. Then, in March 2017, the city administration building – built in the 1950s in a style that combined classical European and local architecture – was demolished.
A year later, the city decided to demolish the Green Theatre, a 1933 building that in the 1940s had hosted theatre troupes evacuated from Leningrad and Moscow during the Nazi invasion; the building was demolished in September 2020.
Plans to demolish some of the most popular landmarks in Dushanbe have sparked outrage and city residents have repeatedly signed petitions addressed to the president and Dushanbe mayor.
