Kazan University to Promote Russian Silk Road Routes for Inclusion in UNESCO World Heritage
Volga Passage and Caucasus Passage are the two parts of the Northern Silk Road situated in Russia.
The Great Silk Road as an international object of cultural heritage was included in the UNESCO list in 2014. Among the participating countries are China, Turkey, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Iran, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan. 37 of the objects of the Silk Road are already recognized as heritage sites, and over 40 more are being prepared for official induction.
Russia, despite being a part of the famous historical route, has not yet been a part of the process. Kazan University plans to change the situation.
Director of the Institute of International Relations, History and Oriental Studies Ramil Khayrutdinov says, “Soviet specialists started this work in their time, but after the collapse of the USSR the initiative in including Silk Road objects in the World Heritage lists shifted to China. Now we can return to that work because the nomination process implies the joining of new participants”.
There are seven sections of the Silk Road that form the two abovementioned passages on the Russian territory. KFU has already presented a five-year roadmap for the project. The first stage encloses archaeological research, manuscript studies, climate and landscape research, and digitization of the whole collection of data. The second stage comprises cartography of the passages and classification of archaeological heritage, such as towns, routes, and buffer zones. The third stage is the nomination process itself. Firstly, Russia will officially enter the circle of participants, and secondly, it will present the Northern part of the Silk Road for inclusion in the list as a transnational object.
Naturally, KFU is not the only contributor to the project. Several institutes of the Russian Academy of Sciences, ministries and agencies of Tatarstan, international research unions and organizations, and overseas governments are involved. The first presentation of the roadmap was made for UNESCO experts on April 27th – 28th in Bolgar, Tatarstan. Their reaction was overwhelmingly positive.
