DUSHANBE, November 28, Asia-Plus – An official presentation dedicated to completion of the UNESCO project for the preservation of endangered ethnographic collections in Tajikistan will be held at the national Museum name after Kamoliddin Behzod in Dushanbe on December 3.
Safarbek Safarov of the UNDP Co Tajikistan told Asia-Plus that the presentation is organized by the Almaty-based UNSECO Cluster for Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan under support of Tajikistan’s National Commission for UNESCO Affairs and will be conducted by Francois Langlois of UNESCO and Ms. Julia A. Kupina, Deputy-Director of the Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography (Kunstkamera), St. Petersburg Russia.
We will recall that UNESCO launched two new projects in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan for the preservation of endangered ethnographic collections in January 2006. This initiative helped a total of five Kyrgyz and Tajik museums to develop further their conservation methods as well as the management, care and documentation of their ethnographic collections.
In Tajikistan, the Museum of Ethnography and the National Kamoliddin Behzod Museum, both in Dushanbe, have benefited from the project.
In Kyrgyzstan, museums involved in the project were the State Historical Museum in Bishkek, the National Museum of Fine Art(s) named after G. Aitiyev also in Bishek, and the Issuk-Kul Historical and Cultural Museum in Cholpon-Ata, located in the Issuk-Kul region in the Northeast of the country.
Two internationally known experts from the Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography (Kunstkamera) worked hand-in-hand with professionals from the five museums to upgrade conservation laboratories and to improve environmental conditions in museum storage areas.
The renovated storage rooms were reequipped with modern and specialized storage equipment, which helps in the long-term conservation of the museums” collections. The experts also helped organize the necessary temporary relocation of museum objects during the work.
Besides, specialists also conducted tailor-made training sessions on how to digitalize, describe and manage collections, following efficient, internationally approved standards. The participants were the curators, collection managers, educators, conservators and administrators of the participating museums.
The two projects are part of UNESCO”s worldwide Program for the Preservation of Endangered Movable Cultural Properties and Museum Development that was developed in partnership with the International Council of Museums.
