Officials on March 13 take a group photo at a ceremony for the reopening of Afrasiab Museum in Samarkand, Uzbekistan. (Cultural Heritage Administration)

By Lee Hyemin

The Cultural Heritage Administration (CHA) and Korea Cultural Heritage Foundation (CHF) have helped Afrasiab Museum in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, to reopen.

Korean support also assisted in the opening that day of the Heritage Management Center of the Samarkand Archaeological Institute.

The ceremonies for both the museum's reopening and the center's launch were attended by CHA Director General Chae Suhee; CHF Executive Director of Planning Kim Dongha; Ambassador to Uzbekistan Kim Heesang; Aziz Inagamovich, director general at Uzbekistan's Agency of Cultural Heritage; museum director Samarridin Mustafokulov and the institute's head Saidov Muninxon.

The events were part of official development assistance (ODA) for Uzbekistan. The second round of this ODA had CHA and the CHF from 2022 assisting the museum's environmental improvement construction and the center's establishment.

In the first ODA round from 2020-21, both agencies supported reinforcing staff capacity and improving the museum environment in the Central Asian nation.

The second round refurbished the museum's first-floor exhibition hall and the facility where a famous palace mural hangs, as well as replace the roofing system.

The mural depicts a diplomatic delegation from Korea's Goguryeo Kingdom in the seventh century attending the coronation of King Varkhuman in Samarkand. This valuable piece of heritage clearly shows Goguryeo's history of international cultural exchange from about 14 centuries ago.

CHA and the CHF also gave the center specialized equipment for preservation and analysis of artifacts and archaeological surveys, including Central Asia's first X-ray machine to research relics.

This is expected to make the center a specialized think tank that organically conducts archaeological research on and scientific analysis of Uzbekistan's cultural heritage.

CHA and the CHF will continue their cooperation in cultural heritage with Uzbekistan through activities like setting preservation treatment guidelines in Uzbek and providing major support for human resource development for the preservation and management of the country's cultural heritage.

hyemin0614@korea.kr