On the eve of the official visit of the President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev to the French Republic, a media event "Cultural legacy as a bridge between Uzbekistan and France" was held in Paris.
It brought together more than 60 world-famous scientists and orientalists from France and other countries. The event was attended by UNESCO Deputy Director General for Culture Ernesto Renato Ottone Ramirez. In his interview, Ramirez stressed that he considers the efforts made in recent years in the country to preserve the material and spiritual heritage to be fundamentally important.:
"You are working to show the world that the wealth of Uzbekistan's cultural heritage is stored not only in the country, but is preserved all over the world – in the main museums of Europe and the USA and in other countries. I think that such a serious attitude of Uzbekistan to this issue – through research, demonstration, creation of new scientific structures and projects – is an example for many countries. Research is a way of transferring not only academic knowledge, but also knowledge for our children and new generations. We are very pleased that UNESCO is actively working with Uzbekistan."
During the media event, reports on the cultural heritage of Uzbekistan in the collections of France were announced. For example, within the framework of the project, books-albums with descriptions of the manuscripts of Avicenna, Mirzo Ulugbek, Alisher Navoi, which are now stored in the French National Library, are being prepared for release. Another publication is in the process, telling about the unique artifacts of Uzbekistan's cultural heritage stored in the Louvre and other museums in France. During the media event, an action was held to donate books-albums of the project "Cultural Heritage of Uzbekistan in the collections of the world", "Architectural epigraphy of Uzbekistan" and a series of facsimile copies of manuscripts as a gift to UNESCO, leading museums and libraries of France, the Embassy of the Republic of Uzbekistan in France.
As the First Deputy of the Senate of the Oliy Majlis of the Republic of Uzbekistan Sadik Safayev noted, "It is not surprising that in the series of events taking place on the eve of the upcoming visit of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev to France, the first is devoted to cultural heritage issues, because cultural heritage is the historical root of our two peoples. Such cultural and civilizational-humanitarian issues lead to a deeper understanding and trust between peoples, and today a grandiose event is taking place in France, which serves as a bridge between the cultures of the two countries, which is extremely important."
Uzbekistan's new policy of openness, aimed at establishing friendly contacts with all countries and striving to revive the cultural heritage of its country, is yielding results. "The project is a vivid example of how in the new Uzbekistan civil institutions, state and international organizations, socially responsible business, world scientific circles have joined forces to promote socially significant initiatives not only for our society, but also for the entire civilized world," the author and head of the Cultural Heritage project said in his speech. Uzbekistan in the collections of the world" Firdavs Abdukhalikov.
The participants of the media event also visited the world-famous Louvre Museum, the Institute of Oriental Languages, the National Institute of Oriental Languages and Civilizations (Inalco), as well as the Hime Museum, where agreements on joint cooperation were reached. The multimedia project "Cultural legacy of Uzbekistan in World collections" (Cultural Legacy of Uzbekistan in World collections) has been implemented since 2016 with the sponsorship of the oilfield services group "Eriell Group". Today, 20 books-albums have already been published, as well as more than 25 documentaries dedicated to the richest cultural heritage of Uzbekistan in various museums and libraries around the world.
