History of a book: The exhibition “Persian literature and art of a book” at the National Library of Russia

September 14, 2015 in the Department of Manuscripts of the National Library of Russia (St. Petersburg) was opened the exhibition "The Persian literature and art of books".  

The new exhibition of the Manuscript Department presents works of literature in Persian, starting with "Shakhno-name" Firdausi (11 century). The exhibits are divided into two rows of closely related. The first material is arranged so as to illuminate the history of literature, its genres, to show the works of great poets: Nizami, Saadi, Hafiz, Jami and other authors, as well as examples of folk literature.

In the second row the manuscripts of literary works are arranged in chronological order of their correspondence (from 14 to 19 centuries) and are arranged for art school. Here the emphasis is on the masterpieces of book art, created in the workshops of the court of Shiraz, Herat, Tabriz, Qazvin, Isfahan and other cultural centers. You can see the elegant handwriting of famous calligraphers, exquisite miniatures and bright, unusual ornamental decoration and luxurious bindings, gold-plated or lacquered embossed ornaments.  

There are more than 50 thousands of Persian manuscripts kept in the National Library of Russia.

The exhibition is timed to the held in the State Hermitage Museum and the Institute of Oriental Manuscripts of the Eighth European Conference on Iranian Studies, and will be open until 18 September.