The first city partnership between a US and a Soviet city, the official Seattle-Tashkent sister city relationship was established in 1973 but was preceded by ties that began in 1961 between the University of Washington and academic institutions in Tashkent.

In this image taken at Orca-Day Elementary School, artist Jakob Schapiro and architect Leon Admov of Tashkent join fifth-grader Matthew Phillips in painting ceramic tiles. The tiles, and about 10,000 others mostly made by Seattle school children, are now located in Tashkent at Friendship Park (or Seattle-Tashkent Peace Park, or Babur Park). The park, a gift from the City of Seattle, was dedicated simultaneously in Seattle and Tahkent via telephone on September 12, 1988.

Caption information source: "Seattle-Tashkent Peace Park in Uzbekistan is dedicated in Tashkent and at Seattle Center on September 12, 1988," by Priscilla Long, HistoryLink.org Essay 3595
Caption information also derived from captions written by Post-Intelligencer staff and attached to the back of the photograph.