This book-album is the first part of a trilogy representing the cultural heritage of Uzbekistan in the collection of the State Hermitage Museum (St. Petersburg). It presents the rarest collection of objects of pre-Islamic origin found on the territory of Uzbekistan. Among them is the famous Ayrtam frieze, or a stone bas-relief dated to the 1st century AD, with half-figures of musicians placed among lush leaves. According to researchers, the musicians embody the five sacred sounds in a ritual celebrating the birth of the Buddha. Once the frieze decorated a temple in northern Bactria (Surkhandarya region of Uzbekistan). Also, the catalog contains works of early medieval monumental and decorative art discovered in Toprak-kala and Varakhsha, mysterious ossuaries and the famous Sogdian silver.