The Centre is both representational of traditional architecture within the region, and ambassadorial through the social and educational programming offered.

Following extensive development work for Ismaili people in Tajikistan, the Centre was inaugurated on 12 October 2009 by the Aga Khan and the Tajikistani president, Emomali Rahmon (though as of 2013 not all of its planned functionality had been implemented). The Centre has given the traditionally peripheral Ismailis a prominent architectural focus in the capital city, while retaining the Ismaili Centres’ customary sense of seclusion for those within the building, and is a mark of the increasing integration of Tajik Ismailis into the global Ismaili community. The Centre was designed ‘to become part of the fabric of the civil life of the area’, with the ambition of spiritual and intellectual advancement, and accordingly includes not only facilities for worship, but also for conferences, lectures and cultural performances (including translation booths, enabling simultaneous multilingual delivery of events) to encourage reciprocity in learning.