TEHRAN – The St. St. Cyril and Methodius National Library, Bulgaria’s major archive in Sofia, has launched a section for books on Iranian studies.

The section entitled “Iran Corner” has been set up to celebrate 125 years of diplomatic relations and 75 years of cultural ties between Iran and Bulgaria, Iran’s Islamic Culture and Relations Organization announced on Wednesday.

The director of the library, Krasimira Alexandrova, Iranian Ambassador Mohammad-Javad Rasuli, Iranian cultural attaché Javad Aminimanesh and a group of Bulgarian cultural figures attended an opening ceremony of the section.

Thirty-two titles on Iranian tourist attractions, handicrafts, and Persian culture and civilizations have been offered in the corner.

In her short speech, Alexandrova expressed her happiness over celebrating 125 years of diplomatic relations between the two countries and launching the section.

She also thanked Rasuli for presenting the library with a manuscript carrying a selection of verses from the Holy Quran and regarded the movement as a representation of the long close relationship between Iran and Bulgaria.      

“Cultural, language and ethnic affinities between the two countries, numerous translations of Persian books into Bulgarian and numerous Bulgarian words with roots in the Persian language are all the reasons behind the cultural understanding between Iran and Bulgaria,” he added.

Rasuli also announced his plan to arrange Alexandrova’s visit to Iran, which will be conducted in the near future.

With nearly 8.5 million documents, the St. St. Cyril and Methodius National Library is the most significant book treasure in Bulgaria.

The library’s Department of Oriental Collections contains Arabic manuscripts, old printed books and archival documents in Ottoman Turkish, Arabic and Persian languages. 4,000 manuscript codices, 2,000 volumes of old printed books and about 1 million sheets of documentary archive, presented in 342,000 archive units, are stored there.

The archival documents cover the period from the beginning of the 15th century to 20th century and reflect a wide range of political, economic, social and cultural topics.

The department was set apart when the library was established in 1878 with the aim of becoming a center for the preservation and research of the Arabic literary and archival-documentary heritage deposited on the Bulgarian lands after the withdrawal of the Ottoman administration.

Photo: St. St. Cyril and Methodius National Library director Krasimira Alexandrova (4th L) and several other persons are seen at the launch of Iran Corner in the library located in the Bulgarian capital of Sofia. 

MMS/YAW