The monument is the second-largest expense after the memorial meal, and the only one that can be planned calmly. The tradition of installing it at the first anniversary gives the family roughly twelve months to choose without pressure. Below are real 2026 prices by material, work and city.
What makes up the price. A monument is not one stone but five items: stele, base plinth, foundation slab, engraving and installation. Fence, bench, table and plot cladding are counted separately. When someone quotes «a monument from a million», they almost always mean the stele alone.
Simple slab and budget segment. A simple slab or small stele in aggregate concrete or inexpensive local stone — 700,000 to 1,500,000 UZS in regional cities, from 1,000,000 in Tashkent. Basic engraving of name and dates adds 200,000–500,000. This format is often installed as a temporary marker before the main monument.
Marble. Local and travertine marble — 2 to 6 million UZS for a stele-plus-plinth set. Marble is cheaper than granite and looks better in light tones, but it is weather-sensitive: in Uzbek summers and winter swings it dulls and needs re-polishing every few years. For a plot nobody can tend, that is a real drawback.
Granite. The main material for a durable monument. A set in domestic or Kazakh granite with engraving — 3–8 million UZS. Indian black granite (Absolute Black, Black Galaxy) — 6–15 million per set depending on size and complexity. Granite needs almost no maintenance and holds an engraving for decades — which is exactly why families living abroad choose it.
Engraving and portrait. Simple engraving of name, dates and a short epitaph is usually included or adds 200,000–600,000 UZS. A laser-etched artistic portrait on black granite — 800,000–3,000,000 depending on size and source-photo quality. The key point: portrait quality is set by the source image, not the engraver. A poor photograph will not become a good portrait at any price.
Plinth, paving and fence. A concrete plinth — 500,000–1,500,000 UZS. A granite plinth — 1.5–4 million. Paving or cobbling the plot — 1–4 million depending on area. A metal fence — 800,000–3,000,000. Full plot landscaping with a granite plinth and cladding typically costs as much as the monument itself, sometimes more.
Installation. Separate work: removing the old stone if present, preparing the foundation, delivery and mounting. Tashkent — 500,000–1,500,000 UZS; regions — 300,000–900,000. Remote cemeteries add transport. Installing on unsettled ground is the most common reason a monument tilts within two or three years — and precisely why it goes up a year after the burial rather than immediately.