This chapter introduces the role of museums in shaping national identity in Central Asia after the dissolution of the Soviet Union. It highlights how Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, and Tajikistan redefined their historical and cultural narratives, balancing pre-Soviet traditions with the Soviet legacy. The region’s complex past, shaped by nomadic and sedentary traditions, Turkic, Persian, Mongol, Russian, and Soviet influences, as well as diverse religious currents, created a multilayered foundation for identity. Museums are presented not as neutral repositories of history, but as active agents that construct collective memory by selecting, framing, and omitting aspects of the past in line with political goals. Drawing on theoretical frameworks such as Benedict Anderson’s imagined communities, Pierre Nora’s lieux de mémoire, David Lowenthal’s view of the past as a foreign country, and Michel Foucault’s concept of governmentality, the chapter shows how museums function as instruments of power and sites of identity construction. It also outlines the methodological challenges of studying museums in the region, from linguistic barriers to political sensitivities, while framing them as central spaces where heritage, memory, and state narratives intersect.