TEHRAN – The Center for Scriptural Heritage Studies of Iran and Islam was inaugurated in the Institute of Oriental Manuscripts of the Russian Academy of Sciences in Saint Petersburg on Tuesday.

The ceremony, which took place in the Green Hall of the institute, was attended by the director of the National Library and Archives of Iran (NLAI), Seyyed Reza Salehi-Amiri from Iran and Iranian ambassador to Russia Mehdi Sanai, NLAI reported on Wednesday.

The institute had also arranged a ceremony in honor of Oleg F. Akimushkin, a preeminent scholar and great expert in Iranian manuscript culture. Akimushkin, who was one of the oldest researchers at the Institute of Oriental Studies, died on October 31, 2010, at the age of 81.

Speaking at the ceremony, Salehi-Amiri said that Akimushkin had created invaluable works in the field of Iranian studies.

“He had good relations with Iran’s Cultural Office in Moscow and had translated several parts of Rumi’s “Masnavi-ye Manavi into Russian,” he added.

He also said that his organization is quite willing to publish Akimushkin’s works about Iran and Islam in collaboration with the Institute of Oriental Manuscripts of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

Moreover, Salehi-Amiri met Mikhail Piotrovsky, the director of the State Hermitage Museum on Monday, and held talks on cultural and academic cooperation.

Piotrovsky said that the museum possesses a collection of priceless works from Iran and expressed willingness to cooperate with the Iranian library.

Salehi-Amiri also announced that a conference is due to be held to commemorate 515 years of Iran-Russia relations in January 2017.

Photo: State Hermitage Museum Director Mikhail Piotrovsky (L) receives a present from NLAI Director Seyyed Reza Salehi-Amiri in Saint Petersburg, Russia on September 20, 2016. (Photo by NLAI)

RM/YAW