The rich diversity of book arts and traditional handicrafts of Central Asia and the Islamic world is given public view in Samarkand to around 300 from abroad visiting Uzbekistan during the “International Ziyarah Tourism Week”. The International Forum “Central Asia – Center for Islamic Art” organized by the Ministry of Tourism and Cultural Heritage of the Republic of Uzbekistan, Imam Bukhari International Scientific Research Center (Samarkand) and IRCICA kicked off on 1 November 2022. The opening ceremony was officiated by the Minister of Tourism and Cultural Heritage of the Republic of Uzbekistan, Mr. Aziz Abdukhakimov; the Governor of Samarkand region, Mr. Erkinjon Turdimov; the Director General of IRCICA Prof. Dr. Mahmud Erol Kılıç; the Director of the Center of Islamic Civilization in Uzbekistan, Dr. Shoazim Minovarov; the Chairman of Korea Muslim Federation Mr. Kim Don Yok.
The three-day Forum events include: exhibitions of applied arts with demonstrations by artisans, including the arts of the book – “Book culture in Mawarannahr”, miniature painting, pottery, ceramics, epigraphy, marbling (ebru), Samarkand Paper, engraving, wood carving; calligraphy selected from the collections of IRCICA and Imam Bukhari Center; accompanied by a workshop and lecture by the Calligrapher Efdaluddin Kılıç; exhibitions of ancient Qur’an copies; “Modern Islamic architecture”; an International Conference on “Improving the System of Preservation and Research of Ancient Written Sources” spread over two days with sections on: “Uzbekistan and foreign experience in improving the system of preservation and research of ancient written sources” and “Conservation and restoration of rare manuscript sources, registry, and digitization”.
