a city; capital of the Kara-Kalpak ASSR. Located on the right bank of the Amu Darya River (at the beginning of its delta), 38 km from the Khodzheili railroad station (on the left bank of the river); the Takhiatash-Nukus line was under construction as of 1974. Highway junction. Population, 88,000 (1974; 10,000 in 1939 and 39,000 in 1959).

Nukus took shape as a city in 1932 on the site of the aul (village) of Nukus, which grew up in the 1860’s. It has been the capital of the Kara-Kalpak ASSR since 1939. The city’s enterprises account for more than 15 percent of the gross industrial output of Kara-Kalpakia. Of greatest importance are metal-working (plants for the repair of farm machinery and motor vehicles), production of building materials (combines for large-panel housing construction and production of building materials, and also a brickyard and a granite and marbleplant), the food-processing industry (meat and dairy, flour-milling, wine and spirits), and light industry. There is also a furniture factory.

Nukus was built according to a 1936 general plan (architects S. O. Ovsiannikov and others). A new general plan was adopted in 1965 (architect A. M. Irkabaev, engineer T. Z. Ziiaev). Nukus has a grid layout of streets on which residential (mainly low-rise) and public buildings have been built. Among the public buildings are those of the Council of Ministers of the Kara-Kalpak ASSR (1930’s) and the Kara-Kalpak Oblast Committee of the Communist Party of Uzbekistan (1970, architect E. K. Vidiakin, engineer E. F. Lenneshmidt). There are monuments to V. I. Lenin (bronze and granite, 1958; sculptor E. V. Vuchetich) and to soldiers who gave their lives in the Great Patriotic War of 1941–45 (concrete and stone, 1967; architect K. M. Molutov).

The Kara-Kalpak Branch of the Academy of Sciences of the Uzbek SSR, a pedagogical institute, and 11 secondary specialized educational institutions are in Nukus. The city also has a museum of history and local lore, the Art Museum of the Kara-Kalpak ASSR, and the K. S. Stanislavsky Musical Drama Theater, as well as a philharmonic society.