If you own a modern Minecraft Java license, you can play 1.5.2 officially:
⭐⭐⭐☆☆ (3/5 – great for historical/technical use, not for new players)
: You can still host dedicated servers for this version using the official 1.5.2 Server Jar .
You cannot use CurseForge easily for 1.5.2 anymore. You need archival sites like: