Over 3,000 historical, cultural assets stolen from museums in Uzbekistan

TASHKENT, Uzbekistan

More than 3,000 historical and cultural assets were stolen from 14 museums in Uzbekistan over past 30 years, the country’s president said on Wednesday.

Shavkat Mirziyoyev’s remarks came during a meeting to increase the role of museums in the development of tourism.

Some 81 art objects worth $300 million were replaced with fake ones in the Bukhara State Museum, while 101 museum items were identified as non-original in Ichan-Kala Museum, the president said.

The amount of damage to cultural heritage in the last 30 years exceeded $300 million, Mirziyoyev said, adding that by the end of the year, a data bank will be created to digitally record all the historical and cultural assets in the museums in Uzbekistan.

Known for its historical cities such as Tashkent, Samarkand, Bukhara, Khiva, and Kokand, Uzbekistan has more than 1,000 historical and cultural buildings and a great number of museums.