Uzbekistan to celebrate Asrlar Sadosi Festival of Traditional Culture

Online, March 18, 2010 (Newswire.com) - On May 8-9, Khiva - an ancient city in Khoresm Region of Uzbekistan -- will host Asrlar sadosi (Echo of ages) Festival of Traditional Culture, a grand collaborative project of the Fund Forum and UNESCO, which will present the entire diversity of Uzbek national traditions and customs, applied art, and oral traditions.

Asrlar sadosi Festival, now in its third year, is held annually in different regions of Uzbekistan, and features specialists, scientists and international guests as participants. Starting its route in 2008 in Shakhrisabz, the homeland of Tamerlane, and going through 2200-year-old Tashkent last year, the Festival "caravan" has now reached Khiva, the pearl of the Amu Darya.

Khiva, an eastern pearl hidden within the red sands of Kyzylkum Desert, has a history that spans 2,500 years and is one of the important centres of the Great Silk Road. The architectural monuments in Khiva, a city that has rightfully been named a "museum-city", are among the world's historical architectural marvels. Khiva offers an impeccable idea of what a Central Asian town would like in the middle ages, with its minarets and domes reminiscent of decorations in the "Arabian Nights". Efforts by artists, builders and decorators over the past few centuries have helped to preserve the authentic image of Khiva and lent it an air of eternity.

The third Festival of Traditional Culture will take place in Ichan-Qala, the oldest part of venerable Khiva, surrounded by walls which have fallen and risen again several times throughout history. Ichan-Qala represents an architectural complex as well as a residential area with almost 26 hectares and 2,200 metres of fortifications rising up to 8 metres in height. No city in Uzbekistan offers a shakhristan (inner town) as well-preserved as Ichan-Qala in Khiva. Ichan-Qala complex is among UNESCO World Heritage sites.

As in previous years, the Festival Programme will include popular merrymaking, performances by folk groups, decorative and applied art fairs, a National Dress Festival, scientific presentations and master classes by local historians and art critics.