From October 30 to November 13, the ancient city of Samarkand in Uzbekistan will host the 43rd session of the UNESCO General Conference, the first in history to be held outside the headquarters in Paris. These events will bring together representatives of UNESCO member states to discuss strategic directions in the fields of education, science, and culture.

I don’t trust UNESCO. Today, on the eve of an event of global significance, which our authorities are preparing for day and night, this is a seditious statement. A seditious phrase from the mouth of a person who is, to some extent, dependent on this authority, working in a state-owned print publication, when digitization is everywhere and paper media is being eliminated. But I believe I must say what I am about to say.

I do not believe in UNESCO. Not because I do not understand the significance of this organization — on the contrary. I understand very well the great idea once voiced by Nicholas Roerich — his symbolic portrait by Asliddin Isaev has been in my office for ten years. Roerich, an artist and thinker, proposed the Pact for the Protection of Cultural Values — the Roerich Pact — to humanity in 1935. His Banner of Peace, three red circles within a circle, signifying the unity of the past, present, and future, connected by culture, subtly echoed the tamga (personal emblem) of Amir Temur, where three rings symbolized eternity, strength, and responsibility. Roerich dreamed of protecting historical and cultural objects through education, enlightenment, and the inner culture of man as a sanctuary of spirit and morality. In the current UNESCO organization, culture has become an instrument of international prestige and tourism. And politics…

Now, when I hear the phrase “monument under UNESCO protection,” I want to go to Registan and ask: does it feel this protection? Does Afrasiab, on which restaurants and houses are built, feel this protection? Does the Samarkand Local History Museum, once the home of the merchant Kalantarov or the first reading room in Samarkand, now the regional children’s library, feel protected? These objects have been in limbo for over a year, and I cannot vouch for their future fate.

Samarkand was included in the UNESCO World Heritage List, not for individual sites, but as a historical zone — 1,123 hectares of the ancient city and 1,369 hectares of buffer territory — “Crossroads of Cultures.” On paper, according to the law, any work here must be carried out only with the permission of the Cabinet of Ministers and after passing through the Scientific and Expert Council of the Cultural Heritage Agency. But what is the reality?

We see excavators continuing to swarm around the historical zone, buildings on the protected list being demolished under various pretexts, and new ones being built. We see how the old becomes a backdrop, and the protected plaques become decorations on the facades.

And in a few days, the 43rd session of the UNESCO General Conference will take place. It is a high-profile, large-scale event: thousands of delegates from around the world, two weeks of meetings, forums, and receptions. They say there will be more than five thousand participants. They will live, eat, travel around the city, breathe its air, which may be cleaner because half of the roads and entrances will be closed.

And so the question arises, which for some reason no one asks aloud: who is paying for this UNESCO celebration? Who is footing the bill for the banquet? Who is financing the accommodation, transportation, organization, and meals for four thousand guests for almost two weeks? There is no answer. But perhaps it is worth knowing — if only because this money could have been directed to places where plaster is crumbling, walls are cracking, and ancient wooden columns are rotting. There are more than a thousand such sites in Samarkand alone, but there is no money for them…

Yes, UNESCO knows how to express concern, but rarely takes action. The organization resembles an old theater, where actors read a script about salvation, while behind the scenes, the scene is being analyzed. Everything is noble, beautiful, by the rules — and completely misses the point.

It is, of course, naive to expect the conference to solve Samarkand’s problems. Yes, the conference will bring a new wave of tourists and new investments to the city, but global attention is not a cure. It is like a spotlight: it shines brightly, but sometimes it dries things out. For example, after a concert by my favorite musician, Jean-Michel Jarre — such cognitive dissonance — one can only hope that Registan will withstand its decibels and fireworks, that the ancient masonry will stand firm, will not crumble, will not respond with pain. I wrote to his press service asking them to pay attention to the concert, because our Cultural Heritage Agency is unable to do so…

I don’t trust UNESCO.

But I trust Samarkand. I trust the hands of those who repair, not destroy. I trust the eyes of the boy who saw Shahi-Zinda for the first time. I trust the craftsman who whispers a prayer as he lays a brick in the masonry or secures ancient majolica.

Samarkand should be preserved not by international missions, but by the people of Samarkand themselves — with their patience, pride, and love for a city that has stood for thousands of years and will continue to stand if we do not leave it at the mercy of fireworks and protocols…

 

This article was translated from Russian into English and reproduced with kind permission of Anastasiya Pavlenko.