Center for Islamic Civilization Photo: CIC
Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev received a report on the Center for Islamic Civilization's first months of operation and its development roadmap, his press service said.
Center Director Firdavs Abdukhalikov briefed the president on research and publishing progress, cultural-heritage repatriation, digitization of collections, and international outreach since the center opened in its new building on March 17. By June 1 it had welcomed roughly 500,000 visitors — about 6,000 a day — along with more than 150 foreign delegations and 2,000 international guests.
The complex houses a Children's Museum, the Imam Bukhari Museum, and the International Imam Maturidi Research Center, plus a guide-interpreter service. Eight hundred ten scientific projects have been launched involving some 2,000 scholars; over 5,000 people have attended conferences, seminars, and book presentations. More than 1,000 artifacts have been repatriated, and the library holds 3,000 rare works, 762 adapted for visitors with disabilities. Exhibitions use multimedia, interactive displays, and robot guides; the center holds a Guinness record as the world's largest museum of Islamic civilization.
Next steps include indexing the center's journal in Scopus and Web of Science, building an integrated research platform, and publishing a digital manuscript catalog. An «Islamic Enlightenment» scholarship for graduate theology students and a program to engage 20,000 young religious educators are also planned.
On heritage repatriation, the center will create a permanent mechanism to track, authenticate, and recover Uzbek artifacts from global auctions, museums, private collections, and art markets, backed by a unified digital database and an international register. A state-of-the-art research laboratory — the first of its kind in Central Asia — will be established, and provenance work will continue in China, the U.S., Germany, France, and the U.K.
Internationally, the center plans a flagship «Islamic Civilization: The Path of Peace, Tolerance, and Enlightenment» forum, presentations at UN offices in New York and Geneva and at UNESCO in Paris, and roadshows in 55 countries. A conference and exhibition on women in Islam, joint projects with the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies, ICESCO, IRCICA, and TURKSOY, plus press tours, media forums, and diplomatic photo exhibitions are also scheduled. Visitor services at the Imam Bukhari memorial complex will be upgraded.
Mirziyoyev ordered systematic expansion of research and publishing, a standing repatriation mechanism, continued digitization, and a stronger international media presence.
ℹ️ The center, adjacent to the Khast-Imam complex in Tashkent, echoes medieval architecture with four 34-meter portals and a 65-meter central dome. It contains a Quran hall, a 460-seat auditorium, and galleries spanning Uzbekistan's history from pre-Islamic times to the present. It is designed as a scholarly platform in partnership with the International Islamic Academy of Uzbekistan and research centers worldwide.
