Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- At a meeting of the Memory of the World Committee of the Asia-Pacific Region, it was announced that two nominations submitted by the National Commission of the Republic of Uzbekistan for UNESCO were included in the Memory of the World Register of the Asia-Pacific Region.

On 7-8 May 2024, the 10th meeting of the UNESCO Memory of the World Committee for Asia and the Pacific (MOWCAP) was held in the capital of Mongolia, Ulaanbaatar, at which previously submitted nominations from the National Commission of the Republic of Uzbekistan for UNESCO “Turkestan Album (1871) -1872)" and "Images of the Khorezm oasis of Khudaybergan Devanov (1879-1937)" were included in the Memory of the World register of the Asia-Pacific region.

The nomination “Turkestan Album (1871-1872)” contains rare photographs and color images of scientific and historical value, and are stored in the collections of the National Library of Uzbekistan. “Turkestan Album” consists of historical, archaeological, ethnographic and handicraft sections. The album is distinguished by the completeness and originality of materials taken from national photographs.

This collection was compiled in 1871-1872 and consists of 4 parts and 10 volumes. These include: “Archaeological part”, “Ethnographic part”, “Craft part” and “Historical part”. The part of the album dedicated to archeology and ethnography was prepared by orientalist A.L. Kun. Agronomist M.I. Brodovsky and botanist I.I. Krause prepared materials for crafts, V.P. Ivanov - materials for painting, and M.A. Rotmeister - materials for military history. Photos of the “Turkestan Album” were taken by N.N. Nekhoroshev.

The second category, “Images of the Khorezm Oasis of Khudaybergan Devanov (1879-1937),” represents the collection of Khudaybergan Devanov, who was a pioneering Uzbek photographer, cinematographer, director and cinematographer and considered a great cultural figure in his homeland of Khiva.

Devanov’s collection was formed throughout his creative life. It includes the periods of development of Khorezm: the years of the reign of Muhammad Rahimkhan II, Feruz (1864-1910), Asfandiar Khan (1910-1918), the years of the formation of the Khorezm People’s Soviet Republic (KhNSR, 1920-1924) and the UzSSR (1925-1937). These objects are the only visual evidence of real events that took place at turning points in the Turkestan region.

The documentary heritage in the form of a collection of photographic negatives and photographs testifies to the historical and cultural originality and local identity of Khorezm (lower Amu Darya, Khorezm oasis) and historical and cultural transformations at the turn of the 19th - the first three decades of the 20th centuries.