Director of the Research Institute of Iranian Studies and Central Asia of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Professor Florian Schwartz visited Samarkand State University. The guest was received by the rector of Samarkand State University, professor, member of the Senate of the Oliy Majlis Rustam Khalmuradov. The main purpose of the visit is to establish bilateral relations and joint study of the history of Samarkand civilization.

    At the meeting, based on the proposals and opinions of the parties, issues of raising cooperation to a new qualitative level, an approach with a high scientific potential to further revitalize practical work were considered. The need for effective use of the available manuscript sources on the history of Samarkand was especially emphasized.

    - Today's visit and agreement is literally a new step in the study of the history of Samarkand, - says the rector of SamSU Rustam Khalmuradov. - To date, the most extensive research in this area was carried out in the Soviet era, taking into account the interests of the dominant social order. As a result, some truths remained undiscovered. At present, all sources on the history of Samarkand available in the world are being studied again, the history of Samarkand is being opened in a new way. In this regard, it is important to involve historians who have studied cultural monuments related to Central Asia, the Middle East, in general, to each region through which the Great Silk Road passed, and the history of Samarkand.

    An agreement was reached to create an electronic catalog of sources stored in the manuscript fund of Samarkand State University, to organize master classes by experienced scientists of the Austrian system with the involvement of students, undergraduates, doctoral students, and young university teachers in this work. This agreement will allow to establish cooperation with the Research Institute of Iranian Studies and Central Asia in the field of training historians, source experts, textologists, linguists that meet international standards, will allow young scientists of both sides to use the sources available in the fund of SamSU manuscripts when choosing topics for candidate and doctoral studies that are of interest to the world scientific community. At the same time, contacts will be established with professors of the Institute of Iranian Studies of Austria in the direction of scientific guidance and internships for SamSU researchers. It should be noted that as a result of the joint work carried out online between historians of the two countries during the pandemic and in subsequent years, an agreement was reached to organize an exhibition dedicated to the history of the Samarkand civilization before the “Day of the City of Samarkand”.

Samarkand State University

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Photos taken by Shavkat Akramov.