Conservation and Conflict in the Central Asian Silk Roads

The aim of this paper is to give a description of recent trends in heritage management and conservation in central Asia. Five countries, which became independent from the USSR in 1991, are considered: Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan. This relatively little-known region provides scope for analysing diverse approaches to philosophical and ethical conservation issues. Three case studies are described: the Bibi Khanum Mosque (Samarkand, Uzbekistan), the Aisha Bibi Mausoleum (Taraz, Kazakhstan) and the Burana Minaret (Kyrgyzstan).

Several projects in the area were carried out by UNESCO with the financial support of the Japanese Funds-in-Trust for the Preservation of World Cultural Heritage. The final section of this paper is a synthesis of the pioneering role of UNESCO in implementing conservation projects, assisting the central Asian countries and in the management, preservation and conservation of cultural heritage through the provision of training to national experts and craftsmen.

Figure 4 The Gur-i Amir Mausoleum, Samarkand (Uzbekistan), was built in 1404 and holds the body of Timur. It is one of the best examples of Timurid architecture. The ribbed dome was rebuilt and clad with new glazed tiles in the 1950s.

Enrico Fodde

Enrico Fodde (MA, PhD) is Lecturer at the BRE Centre for Innovative Construction Materials, Department of Architecture and Civil Engineering, University of Bath (UK). He was formerly International Project Director of Moenjodaro (World Heritage Site, Pakistan), consultant to the Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage (UAE), and Field Director for the following UNESCO projects: conservation of the Buddhist Monastery of Ajina Tepa (Tajikistan), the Silk Road Sites of the Chuy Valley in Kyrgyzstan (Krasnaya Rechka, Ak Beshim, Burana) and Otrar Tobe (Kazakhstan).

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Donhead Publishing 2012