22-26.08.2019
Participation of the Managing Director of Al-Furqan, Mr Sali Shahsivari, at the Cultural Heritage Week in Uzbekistan, under the motto “Uzbekistan – crossroads of roads and civilizations: empires, religions, cultures”
At theinvitation of HE Aziz Abdukhakimov, Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Uzbekistan, and Mr Firdavs Abdukhalikov, Chairperson of the Board of World Scientific Society for Study, Conservation and Promotion of Uzbekistan’s Cultural Heritage,the Managing Director of Al-Furqan, Mr Sali Shahsivari participated inthe Cultural Heritage Week under the motto “Uzbekistan – crossroads of roads and civilizations: empires, religions, cultures”, which took placein Tashkent, Termez and Samarkand, from August 22 to August 27, 2019.
In addition to three international conferences (one in Tashkent and 2 in Samarkand), this Cultural Heritage Week was packed with many exciting cultural events which took place in three cities, as following: in Tashkent (August 22-23), in Termez (August 24), in Bukhara (August 24) and in Samarkand (August 25 and 26).
These events were attended by more than 200 world renowned scholars and orientalists, UNESCO experts, including the Director-General of UNESCO, Ms Audrey Azoulay, and more than 50 representatives of international media from 40 countries.
After the first two days of the International Conference, which took place in Tashkent on August 22 and 23, on Saturday, August 24, the guests were divided into two groups, according to scientific interests. A group of archaeologists and art historians headed to Termez, while experts on Islamic studies and handwritten heritage specialists went to Bukhara. On August 25 and 26, all the guests met again in the old and beautiful city, Samarkand.
The Managing Director of Al-Furqan, Mr Shahsivari, was honoured to deliver a welcoming speech at the opening ceremony of the International Conference “Light from the depths of centuries”, which took place on August 25, 2019 at the Imam Bukhari International Scientific-Research Center, in Khoja Ismail town in Samarkand, as he was honoured to give a presentation about "Uzbekistan's Rich and Diverse Written Heritage, as Described in the World Survey of Islamic Manuscripts", at the 1stSession of this Conference, entitled “The Art of Book and Book in Art: Maverannahr’s Handwritten Legacy”.
At the end of this visit, Mr Shahsivari was gifted a facsimile copy of the 'Katta Langar' Qur’an, i.e. a rare 8th century Qur’an, named after the Uzbek village that is its centuries-long home (from the 15th century).
