Fire protection for cultural heritage of global significance
With the Centre for Islamic Civilisation in Tashkent, Uzbekistan has created an important cultural, scientific and educational centre. The state-funded complex was established in 2017 to systematically research, preserve and disseminate the historical heritage of Islamic civilisation, in particular Uzbekistan’s role in its development in the fields of science, art and philosophy.
Monumental architecture with sensitive content
The building itself is architecturally impressive: a three-storey structure with a floor area of around 145 × 115 metres is crowned by a 65-metre-high central dome that draws on ancient architectural motifs.
Inside, the centre houses an extensive exhibition of rare artefacts and around 200,000 archive documents. Among the most significant exhibits is the Mushaf of Uthman, registered with UNESCO, one of the oldest surviving manuscripts of the Koran in the world.
Interactive exhibitions cover everything from the pre-Islamic history of Central Asia to the scientific achievements of the Islamic golden age, for example in algebra, astronomy, medicine and calligraphy.
Holistic fire protection concept with high-pressure water mist
Protecting these unique cultural assets places the highest demands on the fire protection concept. The aim was to reliably secure both the valuable exhibits and the complex building structure, while minimising the impact on the architecture.
FOGTEC protects all floors of the building and the roof structure of the dome with two high-pressure pump units. Depending on the risk assessment of the individual areas, open and automatic nozzles were installed to ensure a protection strategy tailored to the respective use.
In addition, FOGGUN wall cabinets are provided at strategically selected points to enable manual firefighting.
Protecting cultural heritage and architecture in harmony
In cultural and archive buildings, it is not only reliable firefighting that is important, but also the limitation of possible secondary damage. High-pressure water mist significantly reduces the amount of water used through the targeted application of fine water droplets, while at the same time supporting effective cooling and smoke gas binding.
In this way, the system helps to protect the building fabric and unique exhibits in the long term and creates the conditions for ensuring that the cultural heritage of Islamic civilisation remains accessible to future generations.
