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Gobustan State Reserve to host Open Doors Days [PHOTO]

17 September 2019 17:33 (UTC+04:00)
Gobustan State Reserve to host Open Doors Days [PHOTO]

By Laman Ismayilova

Open Doors Days will be held at Gobustan State Reserve on September 19-20 as part of the European Heritage Days.

The guests will be invited to watch the performance of Buta ensemble, to attend mini-tours "Gobustan behind the scenes" to the places of filming of such movies as "The Last Pass", "The Seven Sons of Mine", "The Light of Extinguished Bonfires, "Dede Gorgud", under the guidance of the People's artist Arif Huseynov, Trend Life reported.

Gobustan is home to one of the world's largest ancient petroglyphs collections. Settled since the 8th millennium BC, the area contains more than 600,000 distinct paintings, going as far back as 20,000 years to as recent as 5,000 years ago.

The rock paintings dating back to 8 millenniums reflect different hunting scenes, ceremonial and ritual processes of the habitants of these places. Gobustan petroglyphs were repeatedly investigated by the famous Norwegian explorer and adventurer Thor Heyerdahl, who recognized local boats petroglyphs as the oldest known images of pirogue in the world.

Most of the rock engravings depict primitive men, animals, battle-pieces, ritual dances, bullfights, boats with armed oarsmen, warriors with lances in their hands, camel caravans, pictures of sun and stars.

Gobustan was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage list in 2007.

A master class for children and a fair-sale for children with disabilities will be organized during the event.

The European Heritage Days are the most widely celebrated participatory cultural event shared by the citizens of Europe. Launched in 1985 in France, the programme has been organized as a joint initiative of the Council of Europe and the European Union since 1999.

The European Heritage Days are held at the initiative of the Council of Europe in more than 50 countries.

After joining Council of Europe in 2001 Republic of Azerbaijan began actively taking part in programmes implemented by this organization.

Since 2010 Azerbaijan Ministry of Culture and Tourism has been acting as a national coordinator of "European Heritage Days". Representatives of the ministry, specialists of restoration and preservation of cultural heritage have been participating in annual forums and
meetings.

Days of European Heritage is a well-known cultural social event aimed at strengthening the historical consciousness and national spirit of the citizens of the country.

Many monuments and historical buildings will prepare a special cultural program, excursions, concerts or exhibitions for the festival.

The number of annual visitors is estimated to be around 30 million at more than 50,000 participating monuments and sites.

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Laman Ismayilova is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Lam_Ismayilova

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz

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