Tashkent: President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev visited the Center of Islamic Civilization in Tashkent. The foundation stone for the center, established by the Decree of President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev, was laid in 2018. The project involved hundreds of scientists, experts, and religious and public figures, and resulted in a center covering over 10 hectares, designed in the style of ancient Samarkand architectural monuments, and crowned by a 65-meter-high dome.

According to Azerbaijan State News Agency, the center’s core facilities include research, publishing, a library, archives, a manuscript fund, and a national register for rare manuscripts sections. Its exhibition gallery showcases historical artifacts and works, through modern technologies and digital devices demonstrating the creative genius of past generations. The center also houses a large library containing 100,000 manuscripts and over a million books, the scientific department of the Center of Islamic Civilization, and offices of international organizations.

The museum exposition is organized into distinct halls, including “Pre-Islamic Civilizations”, “The First Renaissance”, “The Second Renaissance”, “Uzbekistan in the 20th Century”, “New Uzbekistan – the Basis of the Third Renaissance”, and “The Holy Quran”. At the heart of the complex lies the hall of the ‘Holy Quran’, where the ancient ‘Muskhaf Usman’ is preserved. The hall also displays copies of the holy book created during various historical eras, their translations into the old Uzbek language, and the rarest handwritten copies of the Koran from all over the world.

Furthermore, the center has successfully implemented religious-educational and innovative media projects. Using holography, devices, and projection technologies, the multimedia panel ‘Wall of Time’ provides information on key historical periods, discoveries, and figures from different eras. The center actively collaborates with international organizations, including UNESCO and ICESCO.