Charvak (or Chervak) reservoir is known as the pearl of the Uzbek Tien Shan Mountains. The lake is located 60 km northeast from Tashkent and is the most popular recreational area for local people making it an excellent day trip destination for tourists as well. The coastal areas of the reservoir are almost 100 km long and half of this area is filled by various recreation zones, boarding houses and summer camps. The color of the water is definitely impressive, it’s like an emerald-tinted blue-colored lake. The 168 meter height of the Charvak reservoir has been created by a rockfill dam in the intersection of Pskem, Kok-Suu and Chatkal mountain rivers. The word Chervak comes from the Persian language “Chor bogh” meaning four gardens, also transliterated as Tcharvak.  

Previously, some evidence of existence of villages, mounds, primitive people sites, petroglyphs and other historical sights have been found at the bottom of the lake. However, after the catastrophic earthquake of 1966, when the entire USSR made every effort to rebuild Tashkent, it was a period of a severe shortage of cheap and ecological electricity. Therefore the authorities decided to create the Charvak Hydropower Station as they didn’t have another more suitable place for this purpose. Archeologists and historians conducted studies on several objects, photographed and found over 150 monuments of this area. Today, 40 years later, a major part of this archaeological site is still under layers of mud and sludge.