PRESERVING REGIONAL HISTORY THROUGH CULTURAL TOURISM: A CASE STUDY OF THE SAVITSKY MUSEUM AND ITS GLOBAL AUDIENCE
Keywords:
Cultural tourism, Savitsky Museum, Russian avant-garde, Khorezm oasis, Pre-Aral history, global audience, heritage preservation.Abstract
This paper examines the pivotal role of cultural tourism in safeguarding regional history and ethnic identity, focusing on the I.V. Savitsky State Museum of Arts in Nukus, Uzbekistan. Known globally as the "Louvre of the Desert," the museum holds a unique dual repository consisting of the world's second-largest collection of Soviet avant-garde art and an extensive archive of traditional Karakalpak applied arts alongside ancient Khorezm archaeological antiquities. This study analyzes how the museum acts as a critical cultural anchor in the peripheral Aral Sea zone, evaluating the dynamics of foreign tourist inflows and international museum collaborations. Ultimately, the paper demonstrates how strategic cultural curation transforms isolated regional history into a sustainable global asset.
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