TEHRAN – Iran’s Deputy Culture Minister for Cultural Affairs Yaser Ahmadvand has visited several cultural centers in Saint-Petersburg, Russia, over the past few days.

One of the centers was the State Museum of the History of Religion, which is home to artifacts from ancient faiths to religions such as Islam and Judaism.

In meeting with Liubov Musienko, the acting director of the museum, Ahmadvand praised the museum for the objects it is displaying in its Islam department.

However, he noted that the department needs to be refurbished and equipped adequately, and added that Iran is ready to help the museum overhaul the section.   

He also said that Iran’s Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance is eager to support the museum in organizing specialized meetings on Islam and Iran.   

Ahmadvand also paid a visit to the Institute of Oriental Manuscripts of the Russian Academy of Sciences, which houses a collection of more than 100,000 manuscripts and early printed books, encompassing about 65 different languages, including Arabic, Armenian, Chinese, Ethiopian, Georgian, Hebrew, Japanese, Korean, Kurdish, Manchu, Mongolian, Persian, Sanskrit, Sogdian, Tajik, Tangut, Tibetan, Turkic and Uyghur.

“There are numerous Iranian experts having considerable experience in the restoration of manuscripts,” he said in a meeting with Irina Fedorovna Popova, the director of the institute.

“Due to the institute’s great possibilities, it can be changed into a center for joint restoration projects by Iranian and Russian experts as the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance is ready to support such projects,” he added.  

Ahmadvand also held a meeting with Ravil-Khazrat Pancheyev, the mufti of St. Petersburg and the North-Western Region of Russia who is also the prayer leader of St. Petersburg Cathedral Mosque.

Ahmadvand said that the culture ministry will seek plans to organize mutual conferences on Islamic topics and collaborate on Quranic activities with the mosque.

Earlier on September 2, Ahmadvand and a number of his colleagues were at the 35th Moscow International Book Fair to unveil a Russian translation of the commendation of the Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei for Japanese-Iranian cultural figure Koniko Yamamura’s memoir “An Immigrant from the Land of the Sun”.

Photo: Director of Russia’s Institute of Oriental Manuscripts, Irina Fedorovna Popova (R) accompanies the Iranian Deputy Culture Minister for Cultural Affairs, Yaser Ahmadvand (L), in a visit to the institute.

MMS/YAW