The art of illumination; is one the traditional decorative art practiced on leaves of the manuscripts, edges of calligraphic texts and miniatures for centuries. The illumination is usually applied on paper using certain traditional forms and motifs with various colors. The main component of the illumination is gold or paint. Gold paint making process requires traditional knowledge and ingredient know-how concerning nature. Gold is used in two forms: in the form of a thin sheet, and liquid gold. Practitioners use gold in a thin leaf prepared by beating it to an extremely fineness. Several pieces of gold and 200 pieces of deerskin are taken. Then a piece of gold is put between each piece of deerskin, tied it with wire and hammered bundle with a special hammer until it turned the pieces into the thinnest sheets of gold. The thin leaf is taken and mixed with the gum and water to turn it into putty. Master illuminators then bring finely shredded gold dust to the paint consistency by special tolls. They use gelatinized water to stick to the surface. In other cases, practitioners do not use gold paint, but natural pigments, which also require knowledge concerning nature. The use of synthetic paints such as watercolor or gouache has become widespread in recent years.

The illuminators, first uses a needle to impress the designs she/he has drawn onto paper attached to a hard boxwood or zinc base or cardboard or ceramics. She/he then places the perforated paper onto, material intended for decoration, and fills the holes with a sticky, black powder or charcoal powder. When the paper is removed, the design is left behind. Masters draw the pattern is drawn on the area to be illuminated and apply first a gold paint. Then the golden parts are polished with the help of the burnisher containing, which has a polished agate on its edge, to obtain the gold-shining effect. 

Masters draw contours pattern, then paint the patterns and add shading one by one with very thin size brushes. Apart from gold, colors such as navy blue, red, pink, yellow, black, orange, blue and green shades are common in traditional illumination. Lastly, the illumination is completed with final touches such as adorning, shading and sweeping.

Nowadays, traditional and contemporary interpretations of the element can be seen in manuscripts, miniatures and calligraphy as well as in single papers as an artistic work, and in addition many illuminators hold exhibitions in art galleries or public spaces. The illumination art had influenced to other styles of drawing and are used in architecture and decoration of household stuff as well. The element has been transmitted from generation to generation for centuries and is an integral part of cultural identity of the practitioners and collective memory of wider communities within the Submitting States.

The Art of Illumination was inscribed on the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of the Humanity on behalf of Azerbaijan, Iran, Tajikistan, Türkiye and Uzbekistan in 2023.