Tajik craftspeople are participating in the 16th traditional Silk and Spices Festival that kicked off in Bukhara, Uzbekistan today. 

The Tajik delegation consists of 33 people, including craftspeople, designers and journalists from Dushanbe, Kulob and Khujand.  

Craftspeople from Afghanistan, China, Iran, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan are also participating in the festival.    

Twenty-five master classes will be organized on the sidelines of the festival. 

The main objective of the festival that runs through May 28 is to preserve the existing cultural heritage with all its specific features and level of artistic skill, as well as support the arts and crafts, such as gold embroidery, hand weaving, wood carving, carpet weaving, construction skills, and fine arts.

The festival program includes performances of folklore bands from different regions of Uzbekistan, national games and fun, master-classes, degustation of Uzbek pilaf at the event “Palovsayli”, fashion show from young designers of Uzbekistan.

Beautiful festive procession will create atmosphere of oriental fairy-tale that will take the guests of Bukhara to thousand years back, when caravans loaded with silk and spices went from China to Europe through the mountain passes and abandoned deserts, and would stop in blooming valleys.

Organizers of the event are the administration of the Bukhara region, Bukhara regional branch of Uzbektourism National Company and Hunarmand Artisans’ Association.