Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- On 16 December 2020, at the 15th session of the Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of UNESCO, the Art of Miniature was included in the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of UNESCO. Deputy Prime Minister Aziz Abdukhakimov announced this on his Facebook page.

In pursuance of instructions on the promotion of the cultural heritage of our country by the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev, as well as the implementation of the "road map" for the development of cooperation with UNESCO, the multinational element "Art of Miniature" was introduced to the nomination for inclusion in the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. The nomination package was prepared by the National Commission of Uzbekistan for UNESCO jointly with similar structures from Turkey, Azerbaijan and Iran.

During the presentation of the “Art of Miniature” file to the Committee, Chairman of the Evaluation Commission S. Al-Busaidi highly appreciated the joint efforts made by the co-sponsoring countries to prepare a nomination package that fully meets all five criteria for inclusion in the Representative List. In particular, he noted that the co-sponsors of the nomination support safeguards focused on supporting transmission, vitality, visibility and awareness of the element, as well as enhancing academic work and international cooperation, incl. documentation and training programs to improve miniature practice.

Inclusion in the Representative List of UNESCO "The Art of Miniature" is an international recognition of this art form, which has a long history and which reached its peak in Uzbekistan. It was noted that the Uzbek school of miniature, with many bright and outstanding artists such as Kamoliddin Bekhzod, for many centuries remains one of the strongest and most famous in the world.

At the current session, nominations for 42 national and multinational elements of the intangible cultural heritage will be examined for inclusion in the Representative List as a whole. The session is attended by heads and representatives of UNESCO, permanent missions of more than 170 countries, as well as delegates from national commissions, international organizations and NGOs.

Earlier, the Representative List included “Shashmakom” and “Cultural Space of Baysun District” (2008), “Katta Ashula” (2009), “Askia” (2014), “Cultures and Traditions of Plov” and “Navruz” (2016), "Lazgi" (2019). "Preservation of traditional technologies for the manufacture of atlas and adras" (2017) is included in the Register of Best Practices for the Preservation of Intangible Cultural Heritage.