Construction of what the Tajik president's official website boasts will be “Central Asia's largest theater” is expected to be completed by autumn of 2026.  The National Theater of Tajikistan, which is on the list of especially significant facilities, is expected to be commissioned ahead of the country’s 35th Independence Anniversary.

“The National Theater of Tajikistan will be inaugurated in time for the celebration of the country’s 35th Independence Anniversary in September 2026,” Ms. Matloubakhon Sattoriyon, the Minister of Culture of Tajikistan, told reporters in Dushanbe on January 27. 

She noted that construction work is currently ongoing, and specialists from the ministry have personally reviewed the progress of the project.  They have provided recommendations to the builders regarding the use of sound equipment and other technical systems.

President Emomali Rahmon laid the theater’s cornerstone on March 17, 2015.  The five-story building will abut the National Museum in the flagpole area.

The building will include three large concert halls.  The largest is reportedly projected to have a seating capacity of 2,400 and possess necessary world-class features.  The two other halls will have seating capacities of 1,200 and 1000 respectively. 

A total space of the theater will be 7,480 square meters.  The theater that will have exhibit and art rooms is expected to host various cultural events.

Once completed, it will expand a list of ambitious projects implemented in Dushanbe.  Earlier projects include what was briefly the world’s tallest flagpole, completed in 2011.  Tajikistan also claims to have Central Asia’s largest library (completed in 2012), biggest museum (2013) and largest teahouse (2014).

Meanwhile, some experts say Tajikistan does not appear to have an abundance of theatregoers, nor does it need more theaters.

Thus, the 500-seat hall of Dushanbe’s Abulqosim Lohouti Academic Theater is reportedly often nearly empty.  Only when school groups come, it is half full.   It is a similar story at other theatres in Dushanbe.

Theatre lovers say the end of state subsidies after the fall of the Soviet Union left drama troupes and art schools underfunded.