Cultural Heritage Forum discusses protection of intangible cultural heritage

A panel session "Protection of intangible cultural heritage and modern challenges" has been held as part of the Cultural Heritage Forum.

The forum is co-organized by Heydar Aliyev Foundation and the Culture Ministry, Azernews reports.

At the panel session, moderated by the head of the Department of Art and Intangible Cultural Heritage Sevil Karimova, Ph.D. in art history, architect Elchin Shamilli noted that Azerbaijan has a rich cultural heritage. He stressed that today it is necessary to present cultural heritage in a modern form:

Speaking about Turkic fine arts, the architect underlined that this is one of the important branches of the Azerbaijani culture. He emphasized the need to describe this art in modern aspects.

Creative Director of the Azerkhalcha Open Joint Stock Company Asmar Abdullayeva stressed that creative products are very important at all times.

"Unemployed women can practice the art of carpet weaving and earn income. Women currently working in the carpet weaving industry are good professionals. However, we continue to provide training for them and support carpet weaving, which is considered our historical and cultural heritage. In general, young people are showing interest in this area," she said.

A. Abdullayeva also spoke about the sale of carpets. She noted that each carpet has its own story and this story must be conveyed to the buyer during the sale.

The head of the sector of the Culture Ministry Nuriya Mammadova touched upon the difficulty of preserving cultural heritage.

"This forum is a call for the preservation of intangible cultural heritage in the modern era. Because examples of intangible cultural heritage are transmitted orally, and this can cause certain changes over time. The UNESCO Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage was created to protect the authenticity of the world's heritage. Azerbaijan is the most active state among the countries participating in this convention," she added.

Doctor of Philosophy in art history, associate professor Telman Ibrahimov said that most of the Azerbaijani cultural heritage was captured by the Armenians.

"During the occupation, samples taken from the houses and museums in Garabagh were massively exported to Armenia and presented to the whole world as Armenian cultural heritage. In particular, illegal excavations have been carried out in Agdam for almost 30 years. As a result of these excavations, many examples of jewelry were discovered from these sites," said Telman Ibrahimov.

T. Ibrahimov also proposed returning these samples in accordance with international legal standards.

To do this, monitoring should be carried out in Garabagh and the return of stolen cultural samples should be demanded.

At the end, the panel session continued with discussions.