TEHRAN – The director-general of the National Library of the Czech Republic, Martin Kocanda, visited the National Library and Archives of Iran (NLAI) on Tuesday.

He also held a meeting with NLAI Deputy Director Gholamreza Amirkhani who provided the details about the NLAI.

Amirkhani also talked about the history of Iranian studies in Czech and lamented the current lack of plans for Iranian studies among the scholars residing in the country.

He stressed the NLAI’s readiness to organize the 50th anniversary commemoration of the passing of the prominent Czech orientalist, Jan Rypka, this December.

Kocanda also confirmed Amirkhani’s remarks on the lack of plans for Iranology in Czech and emphasized the need for help to revive Iranian studies in his country.

He said that 149 rare Persian manuscripts are kept at Czech libraries, but there are no experts on the Persian language in the country.

He also said that his country also faces a lack of experts on Arabic and Turkic languages and added that the Republic of Azerbaijan is eager to collaborate with Czech on research projects on Turkic manuscripts. 

Kocanda expresses his hope that his visit to Iran would lay the groundwork for the expansion of Iranian studies in his country.

Photo: The director-general of the National Library of the Czech Republic, Martin Kocanda, visits the National Library and Archives of Iran (NLAI) on April 24, 2018.

MMS/YAW