An Overview of National Legislation for the Protection of Cultural Heritage in Uzbekistan: From the Late-Soviet Period to the Present Day

Recognizing the value of cultural heritage assets is not enough to guarantee their preservation. Conservation principles and management tools must be incorporated into the legal and procedural frameworks guiding every nation. Therefore, understanding the legal framework for the protection of cultural heritage is a fundamental step in the development of a conservation plan. On the one hand, awareness of the legal framework holds clear operative value, as is also emphasized by the Burra Charter. On the other, it helps analyze and clarify the meaning of “cultural heritage” in the specific historical and cultural context. Since gaining independence, Uzbekistan’s policy has aimed to preserve its cultural heritage. To this end, besides creating a national list of protection, several historical and cultural sites have obtained recognition beyond national borders, being included in the UNESCO World Heritage List. Nonetheless, so far the scientific literature on Uzbekistan’s cultural heritage has mainly focused on ancient times, paying little attention to twentieth-century architecture, which is just starting to find its place among objects of the past worth protecting. In fact, Soviet modernist architecture shares the same fate as the worldwide heritage of modernism, the recognition of the value of which has produced a decades-long debate among international associations and institutions. Due to this delay, some of Tashkent’s modernist buildings have already been compromised or lost.