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ABSTRACT
Discourse on heritage management and conservation of heritage has been expanding as traditional conservation principles confront diverse manifestations of heritage around the world. The 1994 Nara Document on Authenticity formally addresses one such confrontation, resulting in the modification of conservation practices previously thought to be universally applicable. The present article attempts to introduce into this discourse the conservation practices of the Republic of Uzbekistan, which have been perceived internationally as highly controversial, and their significance in the identity formation of the state. In developing a contextual understanding of a unique historical and socio-political reality, a deeper understanding of the values behind the controversial conservation practices is formulated. There is an idealistic expectation that upon independence, the Central Asian republics would adopt the ideologies and practices of the system that they had entered. However, there is observed a perpetuation of the Soviet political apparatus, which is paralleled in their conservation practices. A study of conservation practices at the select heritage sites in the Republic of Uzbekistan illustrates that we are observing nations in structural and ideological transition.
Disclosure Statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
1. This article formed part of a dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of MA in Archaeology and Heritage of Asia of the University College London in 2020.
2. The use of the term West or Western in this article does not refer to the Westerns of North America but instead is used traditionally as in the distinction between East and West. It refers to Western European and American influences as they have primarily established the field of archeology as an academic field, the principles of its study, and its theoretical frameworks that largely inform and guide international standards today. This article acknowledges the parallel development of archeological frameworks by the Soviets; however, these frameworks are not the ones widely practiced or disseminated.
3. Nara Document on Authenticity. 1994. ICOMOS. https://whc.unesco.org/archive/nara94.htm (HTML); https://whc.unesco.org/document/116018 (PDF). (accessed January 28, 2021).
4. Muhafazah—defined as the act of protection, maintenance, and recording of sites of religious value.
5. Neel Kamal Chapagain and Kapila Silva, Asian Heritage Management (New York: Routledge, 2013), 68; John H. Stubbs and Robert G. Thomson, Architectural Conservation (Routledge, 2016), 888, https://play.google.com/store/search?q=Architectural%20Conservation%20in%20Asia%3A%20National%20Experiences%20and%20Practice&c=books.
6. Ulema—Arabic term meaning a body of Muslim scholars, who administer law; the term is used herein to refer to the body of conservative elites.
7. G. W. Gleason, The Central Asian States (Boulder: Routledge, 2018), 35.
8. Adeeb Khalid, Making Uzbekistan: Nation, Empire, and Revolution in the Early USSR (Ithaca, N.Y: Cornell University Press, 2015), locs. 1958, 2020, Kindle; Gleason, The Central Asian States, 58.
9. Adeeb Khalid, “Backwardness and the Quest for Civilization: Early Soviet Central Asia in Comparative Perspective,” Slavic Review 65, no. 2 (2006): 231–251. https://doi.org/10.2307/4148591.
10. Khalid, Making Uzbekistan, loc. 6690–6790.
11. Chantal Lemercier-Quelquejay, “From Tribe to Umma,” Central Asian Survey 3, no. 3 (1984): 15–26. https://doi.org/10.1080/02634938408400474 21; Hasan Bulent Paksoy, ALPAMYSH: Central Asian Identity under Russian Rule (USA: AACAR, 1989), 22; Khalid, Making Uzbekistan, loc. 6790–7032.
12. “The Belavezha Accords signed,” Presidential Library, https://www.prlib.ru/en/history/619792. (accessed 2021).
13. “Almaty Declaration of December 1, 1991,” CIS LEGISLATION, https://cis-legislation.com/document.fwx?rgn=4744. (accessed 2021).
14. Islam Karimov, Uzbekistan on the Threshold of the Twenty-First Century: Challenges to Stability and Progress (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1998), 3, https://archive.org/details/uzbekistanonthre0000kari .
15. Svetlana Gorshenina, “Turkomstaris-Sredazkomstaris-Uzkomstaris,” Anthropology & Archeology of Eurasia 52, no. 2 (2013): 51–72. https://doi.org/10.2753/AAE1061–1959520204.
16. V. A. Bulkin, Leo S. Klejn, and G. S. Lebedev, “Attainments and Problems of Soviet Archaeology,” World Archaeology 13, no. 3 (February 1982): 272–295. http://www.jstor.org/stable/124384.
17. Bulkin, Klejn, and Lebedev, “Attainments and Problems of Soviet Archaeology,” 272–295.
18. Bulkin, Klejn, and Lebedev, “Attainments and Problems of Soviet Archaeology,” 284.
19. See David S. van der Oye’s Russian Orientalism: Asia in the Russian Mind from Peter the Great to the Emigration, (Yale University Press, 2010) for a detailed study of the dynamics between colonialism, imperialism, and orientalism in the Russian Empire.
20. David S. van der Oye, Russian Orientalism, loc. 929, Kindle.
21. Svetlana Gorshenina, “Samarkand and its Cultural Heritage: Perceptions and Persistence of the Russian Colonial Construction of Monuments.” Central Asian Survey 33, no. 2 (2014): 246–269. https://doi.org/10.1080/02634937.2014.916071.
22. Ulrike Sommer, “Archaeology and Nationalism,” in Key Concepts in Public Archaeology, ed. Gabriel Moshenska, (UCL Press, 2017), 166. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt1vxm8r7.16.
23. Sommer, “Archaeology and Nationalism,” 166.
24. S. Enders Wimbush, “The Politics of Identity Change in Soviet Central Asia,” Central Asian Survey 3, no.3 (1984): 72. https://doi.org/10.1080/02634938408400478.
25. Mekteb—Arabic term for school, usually at the elementary level.
26. Madrasah—Arabic term for an academic institution, at the higher level, for example, jurisprudence.
27. Lemercier-Quelquejay, “From Tribe to Umma,” 15.
28. Umma—Arabic term meaning the Muslim community.
29. The concrete definition of sart has not been established; of the possible meanings, two are prominent: (i) a term used broadly for settled peoples, thought to be an old Turkic word translating to merchant; or (ii) there existed an ethnic group in the region that identified by the term.
30. Alisher Ilkhamov, “Archaeology of Uzbek Identity,” Central Asian Survey 23, no. 3–4 (2004): 304. https://doi.org/10.1080/0263493042000321380.
31. Chaghatai, Chaghataid is – a Turkic literary language, once widely used and shared in Central Asia. Ilkhamov, “Archaeology of Uzbek Identity,” 308.
32. Charles Shaw, “The Gur-i Amir Mausoleum and the Soviet Politics of Preservation,” Future Anterior: Journal of Historic Preservation, History, Theory, and Criticism 8, no. 1 (2011): 43–63. https://doi.org/10.5749/futuante.8.1.0043; Elena Paskaleva, “Epigraphic restorations of Timurid architectural heritage,” The Newsletter 64 (2013): 10–11. https://www.iias.asia/the-newsletter/article/epigraphic-restorations-timurid-architectural-heritage; Elena Paskaleva, “Ideology in brick and tile: Timurid architecture of the 21st century,” Central Asian Survey 34, no. 4 (2014): 423. https://doi.org/10.1080/02634937.2015.1118207.
33. Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict (The Hague Convention). 1954. UNESCO. Available at: http://www.unesco.org/new/en/culture/themes/armed-conflict-and-heritage/convention-and-protocols/1954-hague-convention/
34. International Charter for the Conservation and Restoration of Monuments and Sites. (The Venice Charter 1964). 1964. ICOMOS. https://www.icomos.org/charters/venice_e.pdf (accessed January 28, 2021).
35. The Athens Charter for the Restoration of Historic Monuments. 1931. ICOMOS. https://www.icomos.org/en/charters-and-texts/179-articles-en-francais/ressources/charters-and-standards/167-the-athens-charter-for-the-restoration-of-historic-monuments (accessed January 28, 2021).
36. The Athens Charter, Article IV.
37. The Venice Charter, Article 6.
38. The Venice Charter, Article 9.
39. The Venice Charter, Article 11.
40. Nara Document on Authenticity, Article 11.
41. Nara Document on Authenticity, Article 8.
42. OUV––Outstanding Universal Value, a term used by the World Heritage Convention to describe qualities of inscribed monuments deemed valuable universally. For a complete list, please refer to https://whc.unesco.org/en/criteria/.
43. “2001––Advisory Body Evaluation,” Samarkand (Uzbekistan), ICOMOS/UNESCO, accessed 2020, http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/603/documents/.
44. Khanaqah—Arabic term for the residential and gathering place for Sufis, as a place of retreat or socializing.
45. Shaw, “Soviet Politics of Preservation,” 43–63.
46. Ann Pulver and Francesco Siravo, Historic Cities Support Programme: Planning for the Historic City of Samarkand (Geneva: Aga Khan Trust for Culture, 1996).
47. Waqf––Arabic term for land or assets endowed to the religious community, unreclaimable nor transferable (cannot be sold) –– intended to retain the property or asset for the Muslim community in perpetuity.
48. Shaw, “Soviet Politics of Preservation,” 46.
49. Turkomstaris—Turkestan Committee for Museums and Preservation of Ancient Monuments, Art, and Nature.
50. Uzkomstaris—Uzbekistan Committee for Protection of Antiquities and Arts.
51. Shaw, “Soviet Politics of Preservation,” 49–51.
52. Shaw, “Soviet Politics of Preservation,” 51.
53. Shaw, “Soviet Politics of Preservation,” 52.
54. Paskaleva, “Ideology in Brick and Tile,” 421.
55. Shaw, “Soviet Politics of Preservation,” 57.
56. “2001––Advisory Body Evaluation,” ICOMOS/UNESCO.
57. Gorshenina, “Samarkand and its Cultural Heritage,” 254.
58. See ARCHNET’s collection of photographs of the Bibi Khanum Mosque, particularly those from the Aga Khan Visual Archive collection, as well as the Aga Khan Award for Architecture, dating between 1989 and 1990, accessible at https://www.archnet.org/sites/2464.
59. Robert Hillenbrand, “Studying Islamic Architecture: Challenges and Perspectives,” Architectural History 46 (2003): 11, https://doi.org/10.2307/1568797.
60. Elena Paskaleva, “The Bibi Khanum Mosque in Samarqand: Its Mongol and Timurid Architecture,” The Silk Road 10 (2012): 81–98. https://edspace.american.edu/silkroadjournal/volume-10–2012/.
61. Paskaleva, “Epigraphic Restorations,” 10.
62. “2000––Advisory Body Evaluation,” Shakhrisyabz (Uzbekistan), ICOMOS/UNESCO, https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/885/documents/ (accessed 2020).
63. “Report of the joint World Heritage Centre/ICOMOS Reactive Monitoring Mission 28 to 31 Mar 2016,” Shakhrisyabz (Uzbekistan), ICOMOS/UNESCO, https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/885/documents/ (accessed 2020); “Report of the joint World Heritage Centre/ICOMOS Reactive Monitoring Mission 9 to 12 Dec 2016,” Shakhrisyabz (Uzbekistan), ICOMOS/UNESCO, https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/885/documents/ (accessed 2020).
64. HIA––Heritage Impact Assessment, intended to analyze possible effects and consequences of development on the OUVs of inscribed sites.
65. “Reactive Monitoring Mission 28 to 31 Mar 2016,” ICOMOS/UNESCO; “Reactive Monitoring Mission 9 to 12 Dec 2016,” ICOMOS/UNESCO.
66. Ron Synovitz, “Bulldozing History: Ancient Uzbek City’s UNESCO Status at Risk,” Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, March 26, 2017, https://www.rferl.org/a/bulldozing-history-ancient-uzbek-city-unesco-status-at-risk/28392139.html.
67. Shaw, “Soviet Politics of Preservation,” 43–63.
68. Paskaleva, “Ideology in Brick and Tile,” 421; Gorshenina, “Turkomstaris-Sredazkomstaris-Uzkomstaris,” 51–72.
69. Paskaleva, “Epigraphic Restorations,” 11.
70. Chapagain and Silva, Asian Heritage Management, 74; Stubbs and Thomson, Architectural Conservation, 888.
71. Syed Ahmad Iskender Syed Ariffin, Architectural Conservation in Islam: Case Study of the Prophets Mosque, ed. Mohamad Tajuddin Haji Mohamad Rasdi (Malaysia: Penerbit UTM, 2005).
72. Paskaleva, “Ideology in Brick and Tile,” 420; Gorshenina, “Samarkand and its Cultural Heritage,” 252.
73. Gorshenina, “Samarkand and its Cultural Heritage,” 249.
74. Mahalla––Arabic term meaning neighborhood.
75. Paskaleva, “Ideology in Brick and Tile,” 425.