The Center has been operating since June 29, 2011.

The Center Director is Prof. Z.D. Japua, Doctor of Philosophy, President of Sciences Academy of Abkhazia. The scientific base of the Center is the text selection, compilated for the preparation of a multi-volume Abkhaz Nart Epic Edition, and folklore materials of ASU student practical activities including expedition materials from Turkey collected from a large Abkhaz Diaspora.

The priority activities of the Center are:

·       scientific publication of the Abkhaz Nart Epics texts— the complete collection of Legends in the original language, the bilingual academic publication in the series “The Epics of the Peoples of Europe and Asia”;

·       regular folklore-ethnographic expeditions to the regions of Abkhazia and Abkhaz people living abroad;

·       decryption and archiving of field materials, creation of electronic database of the Center's Library;

·       preparation and publication of Folklore and Ethnographic texts;

·       implementation of obtained results into the educational process, coordination of Scientific Researches on Nart Saga Studies and other folklore related activities carried out in the Caucasus and beyond.

The articles of the Center’s Staff are published in many collections and magazines of Cities of Moscow, St. Petersburg, Yakutsk, Tartu, Voronezh, Elista, Yerevan, Vladikavkaz, Magas, Nalchik, Makhachkala, Maykop and others. Philological Faculty Students are also involved in the field work.

Many hours of audio and video material collected, thousands of photographs taken throughout this work. The collected material was then digitized. The collection “Turkish records of the Abkhaz Folklore / Ed. Z.D. Japua. Vol. I: Narts”, was released in 2014 within the series of “World of Folk Culture”. The Center also carries out the work on collecting folklore material on the Patriotic War of the People of Abkhazia, 1992-1993. Thus, on the 20th Victory Anniversary, the book “The War Chronicle. Memoirs of the General Givi Agrba” was published in the series of “World of Folk Culture”. In 2014, the Center compiled the Collection of Scientific Articles “The Evolution of Epic Tradition” to the 80th Anniversary of academician Sh. Kh. Salakaya / Ed. Z.D. Japua, published in the series of “Outstanding Abkhazologists”. In 2016, the "Diary of the War Correspondent, Konstantin Gabnia" was published based on the saved manuscripts of the author.

At the completion stage is the work of many years “Narts: The Abkhaz Heroic Epics” in six volumes / Ed. Z.D. Japua. A book by G.F. Chursin "Materials on the ethnography of Abkhazia."