TEHRAN – A collection of cultural offerings including rare books and manuscripts of the Holy Quran and classic Persian literary works has been put on show at the Museum of Islamic Culture in Kazan’s Kremlin, Tatarstan.

The loan exhibition was officially inaugurated on Tuesday in close collaboration with the Ibn Sina Foundation and the Noor International Microfilm Center. According to organizers, it showcases a selection of Islamic book culture created in Iran, Russia, India, and Central Asia.

The items mostly come from the collection of the Ibn Sina Foundation, the Scientific Library of Kazan Federal University (Volga Region), and the Kazan Kremlin Museum-Reserve.

Among the highlights are several folios and calligraphic works featuring the Quranic verses of Ash-Shams (“The Sun”), which is the 91st surah of the holy Quran.

Also presented are masterpieces of Persian poetry such as Firdowsi’s Shahnameh and Nizami’s Khamsa, adorned with illustrations by Kamal ud-Din Behzad, a 15th-century master of Islamic miniature art.

Based in New Delhi, the Noor Microfilming Centre has provided facsimiles of medieval manuscripts. The exhibition features rare Qur’ans from the 10th to the 15th centuries, tafsirs (Quranic commentaries and interpretation), and translations from the collection of the Institute of Oriental Manuscripts of the Russian Academy of Sciences (St. Petersburg, Russia), and the Astan Quds Razavi Library (Mashhad, Iran).

The exhibition also showcases the legacy of Muslim poets and theologians from Volga Bulgaria, the Golden Horde, the Kazan Khanate, and the Russian Empire from the collection of Kazan Federal University. These include Qissa-i Yusuf (The Story of Yusuf) by Qul Gali, Nahj al-Faradis (The Path to Paradise) by Mahmud al-Sarai, and Nur al-Sudur (The Light of Hearts) by Muhammad Yar.

The Kazan Kremlin Museum-Reserve also presents a 14th-century Central Asian manuscript—a volume of hadiths by al-Bukhari from the library of the Tatar historian and theologian Shigabutdin Marjani.

Kazan is the largest city and capital of Tatarstan, Russia. The city lies at the confluence of the Volga and the Kazanka Rivers, covering an area of 425.3 square kilometers, with a population of over 1.3 million.

The exhibition will be running through March 31, 2025.

AM