Solar Heliocomplex of the Sun Institute of Material Science

existing and operational with resumed activity since 1993

The Solar Heliocomplex, now known as the Sun Institute of Material Science, is a large-scale scientific facility near Tashkent, Uzbekistan, completed in 1986 by the USSR. It is one of only two major solar furnaces of its kind in the world, originally built to study material behavior under high temperatures for aerospace applications. The complex was abandoned after the USSR collapse in 1991 but resumed activity in 1993 to continue research and scientific experiments. It is located in Parkent at the foothills of the Tian Shan mountains and is recognized for its unique functional and architectural typology as a monument of Soviet modernism.