Kobyz and the Yurt: Central Asia’s living knowledge enters UNESCO’s Intangible Heritage Lists

On a cold morning in Chimbay, a small town in northwestern Uzbekistan’s Karakalpakstan region, an elderly craftsman bends over a half-finished wooden frame. His hands move slowly but with certainty: Shaping, bending, adjusting. He is building a yurt the same way his father once did, and his grandfather before him.

A few streets away, a young apprentice holds a bow of horsehair against an unfinished two-stringed instrument, trying to coax out a sound his teacher calls “as old as the steppe.”

These scenes reflect a broader recognition across Central Asia. At the 20th session of the UNESCO Intergovernmental Committee in New Delhi, the bowed instrument Kobyz and the Yurt, jointly nominated by Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, were inscribed on UNESCO’s Lists of Intangible Cultural Heritage. UNESCO warned that parts of this heritage are “under serious threat due to the reduction of experienced masters.”

The Kobyz: a sound shaped by centuries

The Kobyz is among the earliest bowed instruments of the Turkic world, traced by scholars to the 5th-8th centuries CE. Its scoop-shaped wooden body, arched neck and camel-skin membrane give it a resonant, overtone-rich sound rooted in shamanic traditions. Among Turkic peoples, the word qobuz once meant “musical instrument” itself, showing its cultural centrality.

In Kazakhstan, the Kobyz tradition is especially strong in regions such as Kyzylorda and Mangystau, where generations of storytellers and musicians known as baky and kyuishe maintained the instrument’s repertoire. In Kyrgyzstan, elements of the tradition survive in the musical heritage of the Issyk-Kul and Naryn regions, where bowed instruments related to the Kobyz are still performed in epic storytelling.

Crafting a Kobyz requires specialised skills, choosing the right tree, carving the body from a single piece, and preparing horsehair for the strings and bow, knowledge traditionally passed down within families.

Today, the Kobyz survives in Karakalpakstan mostly through zhyrau, epic storytellers who accompany their narration with the instrument. But the tradition is shrinking quickly.

Ermek Bayniyazov, a zhyrau from a village near Nukus, notes how rapidly the craft is fading. “When I was young, you could walk into any village and someone would know how to tune or repair a Kobyz. Now I can count the real masters on one hand. If one of them stops working, the skills disappear with him.”

He adds: “A Kobyz isn’t like a guitar you can buy in a shop. The body must be carved from a single block. The horsehair must be washed, dried and twisted in a certain way. Even choosing the right tree used to be an art. Today there are players who don’t know how the instrument is built, and that’s a warning sign for the future.”

The Yurt: a home that shaped nomadic life

If the Kobyz is a voice of the steppe, the yurt is its architecture. For nomadic and semi-nomadic peoples of Central Asia, Karakalpaks, Kazakhs and Kyrgyz, the yurt remained the primary form of housing until the late 19th century. By the 1930s–40s, it survived mainly among shepherds during seasonal migrations.

Historically, the yurt held deep social meaning. A young man preparing for marriage was expected to acquire one; among Karluk and Kipchak groups (early Turkic tribes that once dominated much of Central Asia), parents would not give their daughter in marriage to someone who did not own a yurt. Wedding yurts were covered in white felt, while everyday ones – kara ui – were made from darker material.

Across the region, the yurt symbolised continuity and connection to the land. For many communities, its interior represented a microcosm of order, while the world beyond its felt walls formed the wider universe.

In Uzbekistan, yurts remain part of cultural life in Karakalpakstan, Surkhandarya, Navoi and other regions. They are still assembled in summer near water or trees, with felt panels lifted for airflow.

Chimbay remains one of the few centres of traditional craftsmanship, where workshops preserve yurt-making techniques alongside embroidery studios producing suzani and other textiles. Artisans rarely use the word “heritage,” yet their skills underpin what UNESCO aims to safeguard.

Today, yurts function less as everyday homes and more as cultural spaces, including places where visitors seek to experience nomadic traditions firsthand. Vohid Pirmatov, owner of the “Kyzylkum Safari” yurts in Navoi, tells Euronews the authentic felt structures offer a rare connection to the past. “Our yurts are made from natural felt, the same material traditionally used in nomadic homes. The walls breathe, the air passes through, keeping the inside cool.”

He notes rising interest from travellers: “We see many tourists, especially from Germany, France and Italy. They want to feel the atmosphere for themselves, not just read about it.”

Why UNESCO’s recognition matters now

The inscription highlights both the cultural depth of these practices and the urgency of protecting them. Skilled Kobyz makers are becoming rare. Environmental pressures reduce access to suitable wood for yurt frames. Young people often turn to modern music and digital tools over traditional crafts.

Gulbakhar Izentaeva, Director of the Savitsky State Museum of Art in Nukus, tells Euronews that this is the first time an element from Karakalpakstan has been inscribed on the UNESCO Intangible Heritage Lists, and the first from Uzbekistan placed under the Urgent Safeguarding List. She warns that “young people do not often listen to traditional music and do not want to learn how to make the Kobyz.”

Izentaeva adds that knowledge that has survived for centuries now depends on a limited number of masters and a rapidly changing social environment.

Saida Mirziyoyeva, Head of the Presidential Administration, noted on her social media channels that the inscription underscores the deeper continuity connecting generations. “This reflects the depth of our traditions, the strength of our spiritual heritage, and the continuous link between generations.”

Across Central Asia, the inscription is seen as recognition of a living chain of knowledge. Even as everyday life changes, the Kobyz and the yurt continue to anchor cultural identity across the region, sustained by the communities that still practise and pass them on.