On 7-8 May, 2024, Mongolia hosted the 10th meeting of UNESCO Memory of the World Committee for Asia and the Pacific (MOWCAP).

It announced the inclusion of the “Turkestan Album” (1871-1872) and “Images of the Khorezm Oasis of Khudaybergan Devanov” (1879-1937) in the Memory of the World Register of the Asia-Pacific region. Nominations were submitted by the National Commission of the Republic of Uzbekistan for UNESCO.

“Turkestan Album” contains rare photographs and color images of scientific and historical value and includes historical, archaeological, ethnographic, and handicraft sections. The collection was compiled in 1871-1872 and consists of 10 volumes.

“Images of the Khorezm Oasis of Khudaybergan Devanov” is a collection of an innovative Uzbek photographer, cinematographer, director, and cameraman recognized in his homeland – in Khiva – as a cultural figure. It was formed throughout the creative life of Khudaybergan Devanov. It included periods of development of Khorezm: the years of the reign of Muhammad Rahim Khan II, Feruz (1864-1910), Asfandiyar Khan (1910-1918), the time of the formation of the Khorezm People’s Soviet Republic (1920-1924) and UzSSR (1925-1937).

These objects are the only visual evidence of real events that took place at turning points in the history of the Turkestan region. Documentary heritage in the form of a collection of ancient negatives and photographs testifies to the local originality of Khorezm (lower reaches of the Amudarya, Khorezm oasis) and its historical and cultural transformations at the turn of the 19th – the first three decades of the 20th centuries.

Nazokat Usmanova, UzA