Euronews: “Inside Uzbekistan’s drive to reclaim its heritage”

 

The prestigious international news agency Euronews has published an article highlighting Uzbekistan’s efforts to restore and preserve its rich historical heritage. The article widely covers the construction of the Islamic Civilization Center in Tashkent, its role in the spiritual renaissance of the country, the unparalleled work carried out to return historically significant artifacts, and Uzbekistan’s growing influence in the global cultural sphere.

 

A new, invaluable architectural monument located in the heart of Tashkent has become a symbol of Uzbekistan’s spiritual renaissance.

 

Scheduled to open in March 2026, the Islamic Civilization Center is the largest cultural project ever implemented in the country, designed to showcase centuries of scientific exchange, artistic elegance, and religious scholarly heritage.

 

When President Shavkat Mirziyoyev presented the initiative at the UN General Assembly in 2017, he emphasized the importance of revealing the humanistic foundations of Islam and combating ignorance through enlightenment.

 

At the 80th session of the UN in September last year, he announced that the project was nearing completion and that Uzbekistan was preparing to open this spiritual-educational center to the world.

 

A place shaped by history

 

The Islamic Civilization Center spreads across 10 hectares, blending restored artistic traditions with modern engineering solutions. A gigantic 65-meter dome is surrounded by four monumental porticos symbols of Uzbekistan’s regional and national unity. The delicate ornaments evoke the spirit of Samarkand and Bukhara, cities once considered centers of Timurid-era science and art.

 

Inside, exhibitions are built around the concept of “Civilizations, Personalities, and Discoveries.” The displays cover the history from the pre-Islamic period, through the First and Second Renaissance, to the modern stage of “New Uzbekistan.” Alongside manuscripts, ceramics, unique metal artworks, and many other treasures, the rarest piece of all is the 7th-century Uthman Qur’an, included in the UNESCO “Memory of the World” register.

 

The scale of the center is impressive:

 

🔳 library of 200,000 volumes
🔳 digital archive
🔳 restoration laboratories
🔳 children’s museum

 

Young visitors can study astronomy, medicine, and arts through VR, AR, and AI technologies. The calligraphy school and printing house provide hands-on access to traditional scholarly heritage.

 

During his visit, the President of Finland Alexander Stubb described the center as “a whirlwind of breathtaking impressions,” praising its mastery in bringing centuries of knowledge to life in a modern form.

 

The return of lost heritage

 

The center has also given strong momentum to Uzbekistan’s cultural diplomacy. As President Mirziyoyev has repeatedly stressed, national identity stands on memory and cultural roots. Therefore, returning national heritage preserved abroad has been defined as an important mission.

 

For this purpose, a commission led by the director of the center including scholars, orientalists, and art historians conducted extensive research in the United Kingdom and other countries. They studied how manuscripts and artifacts related to Central Asian history entered foreign collections, met with auction houses and collectors, catalogued and identified rare items connected to Uzbekistan.

 

The Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies expressed its readiness for scientific cooperation, academic exchange, and joint exhibitions. Its director Farhan Ahmad Nizami called the project in Tashkent “a symbol of spiritual and intellectual revival.”

 

In a short time, more than 1,000 rare artifacts were returned to Uzbekistan from international auctions and private collections the largest repatriation process in the country’s history.

 

Among them:

 

➖ over 600 pieces of ceramics, epigraphy, metalworks, calligraphy and miniature art
➖ fragments of 9th-century Qur’an manuscripts
➖ Timurid-era ceramics
➖ works of Central Asian scholars

 

Additionally, 300 manuscripts from the Abu Rayhan Beruni Institute of Oriental Studies included in the “Memory of the World” list were prepared for public presentation for the first time.

 

Today, these exhibits have found their place in the Islamic Civilization Center in Tashkent, at the heart of the Silk Road. During his November visit, UNESCO Director-General Khaled El-Enany called the center “a source of light for the whole world” and highly praised it as “a crossroads of civilizations”.

 

A global scientific cooperation network is emerging

 

From the very beginning, the project involved active engagement from the global academic community. WOSCU — the World Society supporting the center’s scientific and cultural initiatives united over 400 researchers from 20 countries and donated nearly 1,000 artifacts, manuscripts, and museum pieces. These items originate from regions such as Mawarannahr, Khurasan, Iran, and India, forming an integral part of Uzbekistan’s historical heritage.

 

The center also collaborates with private collectors. The first collections were handed over during the international expert forum “Great Heritage of the Past — Foundation of an Enlightened Future,” held in Tashkent in 2025.

 

More than 1,500 specialists from 40 countries have participated in over 800 scientific and museum projects related to the academic, architectural, and cultural development of the center.

 

The director of the center and chairman of WOSCU, Firdavs Abdukhalikov, emphasized that the aim of the project is “to bring together scattered layers of knowledge and heritage into one space.” According to him, the center aims to present Islamic civilization as “a civilization of peace, goodness, science, enlightenment, and spirituality.”

 

A new cultural gateway for Uzbekistan – opening in 2026

 

The Islamic Civilization Center in Uzbekistan will officially open in March 2026. As the opening approaches, the center is steadily becoming Uzbekistan’s cultural gateway a new space for scientific research, international cooperation, and intellectual revival.