აბრეშუმის გზის ისტორიულ-არქეოლოგიური კონტექსტი საქართველოში და მისი პერსპექტივა

Over the past decades, various international bodies have adopted many declarations, charters, conventions and programmes to protect and promote cultural heritage worldwide. European Cultural Routes by the Council of Europe, the World Heritage List and the Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity of UNESCO are those frameworks in which efforts have been made to preserve and manage heritage across the globe. Within the UNESCO World Heritage programme, a relatively new Silk Roads Transnational and Serial Nomination appears to be another platform for international heritage management and cultural diplomacy.
Within the UNESCO World Heritage Programme, a relatively new Silk Roads Transnational and Serial Nomination appears to be another platform for international heritage management and cultural diplomacy. The thesis aims to study historical and archaeological evidence for the “Silk Road” and related cultural heritage sites in Georgia to analyze the possibility of submitting them in the framework of the UNESCO World Heritage Silk Roads Transnational and Serial nomination. In doing so, the paper synthesises trade and transit roads leading to the territory of ancient and medieval Georgia and cultural heritage sites, including archaeological sites related to these roads. Historical, archaeological and numismatic data on the foreign cultural and economic ties of ancient and medieval Georgia, as well as theories of cultural heritage management and its value, provide a framework for the present study. As a result of the research, the trade routes operating in different periods and cultural heritage sites related to the Silk Roads have been identified in Georgia. The study's results complement the existing lacuna on the Caucasus section of the Silk Roads. Based on the abovementioned results, the prospect of Georgia’s inclusion in the UNESCO World Heritage Serial and Transboundary Silk Road nomination is discussed. In this regard, challenges related to the state of conservation of the heritage sites and the cooperation with neighbouring countries are analysed. The study highlights the importance of re-thinking the historical past and outlines ways heritage sites can become a source of positioning a country in the international arena. Given the omplex values, including cultural, social, economic and political, of the cultural heritage corridors of the Silk Roads, the importance of properly presenting and promoting the cultural heritage sites associated with the Silk Roads is outlined.