Uzbekistan's UNESCO Tentative List, Site by Site
Every entry on Uzbekistan's UNESCO Tentative List, wave by wave from 1996 to 2025, with dates, criteria, the October 2026 clean-up and a regional table.
Three entries on Uzbekistan's UNESCO Tentative List carry a submission date of 1 June 1996, and none of them has moved since. On 8 October 2026 the list held 30 entries, the newest dated 30 September 2025; a week earlier it held 37. Below is every entry, wave by wave, from UNESCO's own entry pages, including where the list contradicts itself.
What the Tentative List actually does
UNESCO describes a Tentative List as an inventory of sites a country intends to consider for nomination. Its rule is blunt: a nomination won't be considered unless the property is already on that country's Tentative List. Countries are encouraged to review and resubmit the list at least every ten years, and the list has to be lodged no later than two weeks before a country asks for a Preliminary Assessment.
The texts on each entry page are written by the submitting country, and UNESCO's disclaimer says so. Several Uzbek entries contain obvious slips: the Abdulkhan Bandi dam entry gives its position as N66 42 E40 29, latitude and longitude swapped and identical to the figures on the 1996 Khanbandi dam entry, and the Zarautsoy rock art entry in Surkhandarya reuses the Siypantosh coordinates from Kashkadarya.
Uzbekistan currently has eight inscribed properties: Itchan Kala (1990), Bukhara (1993), Shakhrisyabz (2000), Samarkand (2001), Western Tien-Shan (2016), the Zarafshan-Karakum Silk Roads corridor and the Cold Winter Deserts of Turan (both 2023), and Tashkent's modernist buildings (2026).
1996: three monuments in three regions
The oldest wave was submitted by the Ministry of Cultural Affairs, and all three entries share criteria (i)(ii)(iii).
- Complex of Sheikh Mukhtar-Vali (Khorezm). A 16th-century, multi-domed mausoleum over the grave of the founder of the Ostana settlement, who died in 1287.
- Khanbandi dam (Jizzakh). A granite-slab dam in the Pastaga gorge near Oslan, 15.25 m high, with nine cone-shaped outlets at different heights. The entry dates the region's dam-building to the 10th to 13th centuries.
- Ak Astana-baba (Surkhandarya). A square, domed mausoleum flanked by guldasta towers, standing in an old burial ground.
All three still carry the 1996 date, well past UNESCO's ten-year review suggestion.
2008: the archaeology batch, and what 2023 took from it
On 18 January 2008 the National Commission for UNESCO filed 21 entries in one go, mostly Silk Road cities, mausoleums and fortresses. Fourteen are still listed. By region:
- Tashkent Region: Kanka, 80 km south-east of Tashkent, described as the first capital of Chach with walls around more than 160 hectares; and Shahruhiya, 88 km south-west on the Syr Darya, known in older sources as Benaket.
- Fergana Valley: the Historic Center of Qoqon (Kokand), Ahsiket (founded in the 3rd to 2nd centuries BC and destroyed by the Mongols in 1219), Ancient Pap, and Andijon. The Pap entry notes that locals call the site Munchaktepa.
- Jizzakh and Samarkand: Abdulkhan Bandi Dam in Biglarsay on the south slope of the Nurata range, built on the order of Abdullakhan, ruler of Bukhara, and about 15 m high (UNESCO’s entry files it under Jizzakh’s Forish district, while a 2023 study places the dam in Koshrabot district, Samarkand region; see our page on the dam); and the Arab-Ata Mausoleum.
- Kashkadarya and Surkhandarya: the Siypantosh rock paintings, 40 km north-west of Shakhrisabz; Ancient Termiz, a 500-hectare site 5 km north-west of modern Termez; and the Zarautsoy rock paintings at 1,265 m inside the Surkhan reserve. Ancient Termiz is the only "mixed" (cultural and natural) entry of this wave.
- Bukhara and Navoi: Poykent is the only one left. Seven more (Varakhsha, Chashma-Ayub, Chor-Bakr, the Bahoutdin complex, the Vobkent minaret, Rabati Malik caravanserai and the Mir-Sayid Bakhrom mausoleum) were dropped in October 2026.
- Khorezm and Karakalpakstan: Khazarasp, and the Desert Castles of Ancient Khorezm (Toprak, Ayaz, Koy-Kirilgan, Big Guldursun, Pil, Anka, Kurgashin and Djanbas qala).
Here's the oddity. When the transnational Silk Roads: Zarafshan-Karakum Corridor (ref. 1675) was inscribed in 2023, its official component table included sixteen sites in Uzbekistan. Eight of them carry the same names as 2008 entries: Poykent (as Paikend Settlement), Varakhsha, Chashma-Ayub (as "Chasma-i Ayub Khazira"), Chor-Bakr (Chor Bakh Necropolis), the Bahouddin Naqshband complex, the Vobkent minaret, Rabati Malik caravanserai and the Mir Sayid Bakhrom mausoleum. UNESCO's rule, set by Committee decision 7 EXT.COM 4A, is that inscribed properties come off the Tentative List, yet all eight stayed on it for three years. An archived copy of UNESCO's Uzbekistan page from 2 October 2026 still counts 37 entries. On 8 October it counted 30, and the entry pages of the seven named above had gone blank. UNESCO gives no reason on the page. Poykent is still listed, so one overlap remains.
One caution on Chashma-Ayub. The 2008 coordinates (repeated in the 2010 entry) and the 2023 component's both point outside Bukhara city, to the north and north-east, not to the better-known Chashma-Ayub in Bukhara's old town. Paykend has its own page here: the excavated city of Paykend explains what survives.
2010 to 2023: three serial bids
Silk Roads Sites in Uzbekistan (2010)
Submitted on 19 February 2010 by the Ministry of Culture and Sports, this entry bundles 18 components, from Ancient Termiz and Qoqon to Kanka, Pap, Khazarasp and Sheikh Mukhtor-Vali. All but one also had their own 2008 entries, and the text still lists the seven dropped in October 2026. It also includes Qosim Sheikh in Karmana District, which became a component of the 2023 inscription (as the Kasim Sheikh Architectural Complex) without ever having a standalone entry.
Tashkent makhallas (2021)
Dated 30 December 2021, criteria (ii)(iii)(v). It pitches a social institution as much as buildings: the makhalla as neighbourhood, way of life and the place where state meets society. Its page names old Tashkent's four historic districts (Kukcha, Sibzar, Sheikhantaur and Beshagach) but gives no numbered list of components.
Silk Roads: Fergana-Syrdarya Corridor (2023)
Submitted on 31 January 2023, this is Uzbekistan's part of a corridor that the entry says runs through Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan too. It names 28 Uzbek components across Tashkent city, Tashkent Region, Fergana, Namangan and Andijan, including the Khazrati Imom complex and the Kukeldash madrasah in Tashkent, the Qanqa and Shokhrukhiya settlements, Akhsikent, Ancient Pop, Quva and Mingtepa. Kanka, Shahruhiya, Ahsiket and Pap also have 2008 entries, so success would repeat the 2023 overlap.
2024 and 2025: mountains, rock art and Karakalpakstan
The natural and mixed set (30 October 2024)
Seven entries share the date 30 October 2024. According to a 19 December 2024 report on the news site Yuz.uz, five were updated versions of earlier submissions (Zomin, Hisor, Shokhimardon, Sarmishsay and Boysun) and two were new (the Kuhitang and Nurota mountains).
- Zomin Mountains (Jizzakh), natural: the Zomin State Reserve plus Zomin National Park; the entry puts the main mountain belt at 1,760 to 3,500 m and the highest peak at 4,030 m.
- Hisor Mountains (Kashkadarya), natural: the Hisor reserve, 1,750 to 4,349 m, created in 1985 by merging two older reserves.
- Shokhimardon Mountains (Fergana), natural: on the northern slope of the Alay ridge.
- Sarmishsay petroglyphs (Navoi), mixed: two rock-art sites with about 10,000 carvings in total, mostly Bronze Age by the entry's account. Our Sarmishsay gorge guide covers the walk in.
- Boysun (Surkhandarya), mixed: dinosaur footprints and the Teshik-Tash cave with its Neanderthal child burial. We cover the living culture separately in our Boysun piece.
- Kuhitang Mountains (Surkhandarya), natural: built around the Surkhan State Reserve, 850 to 3,137 m.
- Nurota Mountains (Navoi), natural: the Karatau, Aktau and Nurotau spurs, at least 8,000 km², highest point Hayatbashi at 2,169 m.
Two Kugitang entries, not one
"Kuhitang Mountains" (2024) is a national natural entry centred on the Surkhan reserve, criteria (vii)(viii)(x). "Karst, Canyons and Caves of Kugitang", dated 21 August 2025, is a proposed transboundary site shared with Turkmenistan, built around more than 300 caves, shafts and sinkholes and canyons, many over 100 m deep. Both pages give identical coordinates, and the 2025 entry cites the 2024 one as the national listing its Uzbek half builds on, pairing the Surkhan reserve with Turkmenistan's Koytendag reserve. Neither page says whether the national entry will be withdrawn.
Karakalpakstan (30 September 2025)
Two cultural entries came last. Chilpik, the Tower of Silence (criteria (iii)(iv)) stands beside the road from Nukus to Turtkul, 43 km south of Nukus, and the entry dates it to the 1st–4th and 9th–11th centuries. Ancient towns and fortresses of the Aral Sea region (criteria (ii)(iii)(iv)(v)) lists 16 components, including Akshakhan-kala, three Ayaz-kala sites, Toprak-kala, Koykrilgan-kala, Jambas-kala, Angka-kala and Puljay in Kungrat district. Its numbering skips UZ-10, and the Chilpik entry labels the tower UZ-18. Our reading, and it is only that: the two were drafted as one series and later split. The 2008 Desert Castles entry is still listed alongside it. Our Elliq Qala fortress route covers access.
How a site leaves the list: Tashkent modernism
According to the Art and Culture Development Foundation, which prepared the bid, 16 buildings went onto the Tentative List in 2024, among them Hotel Uzbekistan, the TV tower and the Blue Domes café. The final dossier cut that to ten. In late July 2026, at the Committee's 48th session in Busan, decision 48 COM 8B.24 inscribed them under criterion (iv) alone as property 1766. Kun.uz called it “the country's first successful national nomination in 25 years”.
As UNESCO's rules require, it no longer appears among the Tentative List entries on UNESCO's Uzbekistan page. Hotel Uzbekistan didn't make the final ten, and the foundation says more buildings could be added later if they meet UNESCO's requirements. Our walk through Soviet-era Tashkent shows several of the ten.
Region by region
Counts below are by the region UNESCO's entry pages name (checked 8 October 2026). Location notes come from the entries and aren't access advice; some sites sit inside nature reserves, so check locally.
| Region | Entries | Names (year) | Location note from the entry |
|---|---|---|---|
| Karakalpakstan | 3 | Desert Castles (2008); Chilpik, Aral Sea towns (2025) | Chilpik: 43 km south of Nukus |
| Khorezm | 2 | Sheikh Mukhtar-Vali (1996); Khazarasp (2008) | Khazarasp: Khazarasp district |
| Bukhara | 1 | Poykent (2008) | – |
| Navoi | 2 | Sarmishsay, Nurota (2024) | Sarmishsay: Nurata district |
| Samarkand | 1 | Arab-Ata (2008) | – |
| Jizzakh | 3 | Khanbandi (1996); Abdulkhan Bandi (2008); Zomin (2024) | Abdulkhan Bandi: Forish district |
| Tashkent Region | 2 | Kanka, Shahruhiya (2008) | Kanka: 80 km south-east of Tashkent |
| Tashkent city | 1 | Makhallas (2021) | – |
| Kashkadarya | 2 | Siypantosh (2008); Hisor (2024) | Siypantosh: 40 km north-west of Shakhrisabz |
| Surkhandarya | 6 | Ak Astana-baba (1996); Termiz, Zarautsoy (2008); Boysun, Kuhitang (2024); Kugitang karst (2025) | Ancient Termiz: 5 km north-west of Termez |
| Fergana | 2 | Qoqon (2008); Shokhimardon (2024) | – |
| Namangan | 2 | Ahsiket, Pap (2008) | Ahsiket: Turakargan district |
| Andijan | 1 | Andijon (2008) | – |
| Several regions | 2 | Silk Roads Sites (2010); Fergana-Syrdarya Corridor (2023) | – |
Surkhandarya now holds the most entries, six, and none of them overlaps an inscribed site. The full list, with each country's own text, is on UNESCO's Uzbekistan page; the component table for the 2023 corridor is on the Zarafshan-Karakum maps page, and the Tashkent shortlist history is in the ACDF announcement.