JICA provides Uzbekistan with equipment to digitize heritage

Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.uz) — The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and Uzbekistan's Agency for Cultural Heritage held a ceremony on 18 August 2026 to hand over equipment under a project to preserve Silk Road cultural heritage through digital archives.

The equipment was provided to the Agency for Cultural Heritage, the State Museum of History of Uzbekistan and the Termez Archaeological Museum. The project is aimed at strengthening Uzbekistan's capacity to protect and preserve cultural heritage by providing resources for archiving culturally and archaeologically valuable collections, as well as supporting cultural development and regional revitalization.

The State Museum of History of Uzbekistan holds around 340,000 items, including finds from archaeological sites associated with the history of Buddhism, and presents materials reflecting the civilization of Central Asia from the Stone Age onward.

The Termez Archaeological Museum has around 110,000 items discovered at archaeological sites in Surkhandarya Region, including artefacts from the Greco-Bactrian and Kushan periods. The museum also has an exhibition hall dedicated to Japanese scholar Kato Kyuzo, who made a significant contribution to archaeological excavations and the preservation of sites in the Termez area.

The project has a total value of 55.9 million yen under Japan's grant assistance. It includes the provision of computer equipment, scanners, cameras and presentation equipment, as well as consulting services.

Digitization is expected to ensure the long-term preservation of cultural and historical heritage and expand access to the materials for users in Uzbekistan and abroad through a dedicated website.

Japan's Ambassador to Uzbekistan Kenji Hirata said at the ceremony that Uzbekistan's cultural heritage is also of great importance to Japan because Buddhism reached Japan from ancient India through the territory of present-day Bactria-Tocharistan along the Great Silk Road.

He said it was a great honour for Japan to contribute to preserving this heritage and that the project combines two important areas — cultural heritage preservation and knowledge transfer — by creating digital copies of significant objects for further research.

JICA's Chief Representative in Uzbekistan Mamoru Sakai described the ceremony as a landmark occasion and said that, alongside traditional areas of cooperation such as infrastructure, healthcare and agriculture, the agency also supports the restoration of the country's cultural heritage, which he described as a foundation of Uzbekistan's national pride.

According to Sakai, the equipment will enable three-dimensional digital scanning of heritage objects whose physical condition inevitably deteriorates over time, while digital data can be preserved for much longer.

Sakai added that making the data available through a website would give researchers worldwide access to the materials and could help attract foreign tourists, creating an economic effect as well.