Delegation of the Ibn Sina Islamic Culture Research Foundation visits St Petersburg University

Alexey Rodionov, Senior Deputy Dean of the Faculty of Asian and African Studies at St Petersburg University, welcomed the guests and recalled that the University had a very positive experience of cooperation with the Ibn Sina Foundation. In 2021, St Petersburg University published the album "The Treasury of Mysteries". The book contains descriptions of 35 unique manuscripts from the Persian manuscript collection of St Petersburg University. Many of these manuscripts were presented to the scholarly community for the first time. The publication was supported by the Ibn Sina Islamic Culture Research Foundation.

The purpose of our meeting today is to discuss the prospects for further cooperation: what our needs are, what can be done and how we can cooperate and work effectively together.

Alexey Rodionov, Senior Deputy Dean of the Faculty of Asian and African Studies of St Petersburg University

Milana Azarkina, Head of the Oriental Department of the M. Gorky Scientific Library of St Petersburg University, spoke about the history of the department, which began in 1819 with just four books. Over the next three decades, the collection was growing very slowly. Serious acquisition of books and manuscripts for the department began only in 1854, when the Faculty of Oriental Studies was founded at St Petersburg Imperial University. Milana Azarkina also mentioned some individual collections maintained in the Library. Thus, the Arabic collection of the M Gorky Scientific Library of St Petersburg University contains Arabic studies resources and books in Arabic — 27,000 items in total.

Milana Azarkina also talked about a unique part of the Oriental Department — Viktor von Rosen’s reading room. In the late 19th — early 20th century, the University Orientalist scholars would often express the need for a place where they could meet, study and discuss issues of interest to them. Professor Viktor von Rosen suggested the idea of creating a reading room that would serve this purpose. His suggestion, however, was not implemented during his lifetime. ‘After his death, his widow, gave his entire book collection to the Faculty of Oriental Studies in memory of him. Indeed, the place for Rosen’s book collection was soon found. The Orientalists would hold regular meetings and seminars for students there. Initially, Rosen’s reading room housed 4,000 volumes. By the time it became part of the M. Gorky Scientific Library, the holdings of Rosen’s reading room had reached 30,000 volumes,’ shared Milana Azarkina. At present, the Oriental Department of the M Gorky Scientific Library of St Petersburg University contains about 300,000 books. They are written in approximately 170 languages, including: Russian and different European and Oriental languages.

The Ibn Sina Islamic Culture Research Foundation was established in 2007. Publishing scholarly literature on Islam is one of the Foundation’s priority activities. It brings together academics and students, involved in studying different aspects of Islamic culture, science and philosophy.

Dr Mahdi Khajeh Piri, Head of the Noor Manuscript Microfilm Centre (New Delhi, India), also addressed the meeting. He said that the Centre is engaged in the preservation of the old manuscripts in India, a significant part of which are written in Persian, Arabic and Urdu. ‘Over the 34 years of the Noor Manuscript Microfilm Centre’s operation, we have photographed and microfilmed 1,200,000 documents and have published 73 catalogues of manuscripts in Arabic, Persian, Urdu and English,’ said Dr Mahdi Khajeh Piri.

He also spoke about the new methods of repairing, treating and reproducing ancient manuscripts, implemented at the Noor Manuscript Microfilm Centre.

You are well aware of the fact that the restoration of ancient manuscripts is extremely costly and time-consuming. For these reasons, we find ourselves in a situation where some manuscripts may not survive to the restoration day. We proposed a method to repair and protect the manuscripts through herbal treatment that is compatible with the characteristics of the original copies.

Dr Mahdi Khajeh Piri, Head of the Noor Manuscript Microfilm Centre (India)

‘The herbal products we use are not expensive, while the treatment helps to conserve the ink and paper. Moreover, if a more effective method of restoration is discovered in future, we will be able to return the manuscript to its original state without damage,’ Dr Mahdi Khajeh Piri explained.

The participants of the meeting explored the possibility of a joint project aimed at creating a catalogue of Persian manuscript collection of St Petersburg University. In particular, Alexey Rodionov underlined the need to discuss most fundamental issues: what the parties understand by Persian manuscripts and the catalogue, and what they consider as possible formats for cooperation. Expressing interest in working together, the representatives of the Ibn Sina Foundation emphasised that such a project would provide an opportunity to improve international relations between scholars involved in the study of Islamic manuscripts towards popularisation of this research area among young Iranian scholars.

The event was also attended by: Artem Andreev, Director of the Centre for the Study of the Islamic Republic of Iran at St Petersburg University; Aleksei Khismatullin, a fellow at the Centre and Leading Research Associate at the Institute of Oriental Manuscripts of the Russian Academy of Sciences; Olga Yastrebova, Associate Professor in the Department of Persian Philology at St Petersburg University; Timur Slesarev, Chief Librarian of the Oriental Department of the M Gorky Scientific Library of St Petersburg University; Hamid Hadavimogaddam, Director of the Ibn Sina Islamic Culture Research Foundation; and Fathollah Zoughi, a member of the Foundation.