Azerbaijan's "Chovgan" included in UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage List
By Nazrin Gadimova
Azerbaijani game "Chovgan", which is played riding Karabakh
horses, has been included in the List of Intangible Cultural
Heritage of UNESCO at the request of Azerbaijan.
This decision was made at the 8th Session of UNESCO
Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible
Cultural Heritage, which runs in Baku on December 2-7.
Chovgan, the original form of the polo sporting game that dates
back thousands of years, is still played in Azerbaijan, but the
modern version of the sport has not yet managed to gain a foothold
in the land on the Caspian Sea.
Chovgan originated in the middle of the first millennium A.D. as a
team game. It has been very popular for centuries both in
Azerbaijan and Central Asia. Fragments of the game were portrayed
from time to time in ancient miniatures, and detailed descriptions
and rules of the game were also reflected in ancient
manuscripts.