The International Scientific and Practical Conference “Harmony of Tangible and Intangible Cultural Heritage” was held on 9 September 2023 in Bukhara, Uzbekistan, jointly by the “Umrboqiy Meros” Center for Propaganda of Culture and Art of Uzbekistan, Bukhara State University, and the International Institute for Central Asian Studies (IICAS), to discuss the challenges for protecting tangible and intangible cultural heritage, integrated approaches for protecting both, and the role of public organizations in the protection, preservation, and promotion of intangible cultural heritage (ICH) in Uzbekistan and other Central Asian countries.
IRCI attended this conference online and made a presentation to introduce its research projects, cooperation with Central Asia, and efforts to investigate cases of integrated safeguarding of tangible and intangible cultural heritage, especially those from the ongoing project “Research on ICH Contributing to SDGs: Intangible Cultural Heritage for Sustainable Cities and Communities”, to address the topic of this conference. In the discussion session, IRCI received several questions from other participants about the details of IRCI’s activities in Uzbekistan, which showed their interest in international collaborations on the safeguarding of cultural heritage.
IRCI has been cooperating with the “Umrboqiy Meros” Center since 2022 in the project “Sustainable Research Data Collection for ICH Safeguarding: Focusing on Central Asia and Small Island Developing States” to collect research information on Uzbek ICH. This conference, attended by many leading researchers on ICH in Central Asia, was also organized as one of the workshops under this project and played an important role in helping “Umrboqiy Meros” acquire information on recent ICH-related research to be added to the IRCI Research Database. It was also a great opportunity for IRCI to better understand research in this region as well as build and extend collaborative ties with researchers and organizations in Uzbekistan.