The Oriental Manuscripts

The old manuscripts in the collection of the Romanian Academy Library, 420 volumes in Arabic, Persian, Turkish, Hebrew throw a vivid light upon these civilizations forming a significant evidence of the interest of Romania in Oriental art and culture. These manuscripts belong to various fields, illustrating aspects characteristic to the Oriental scholasticism.
The saint book of Islam, the Koran,, a collection of dogmas and moral precepts which form the fundament of the norms of the Muslim civilization, of the law, the morals and the state organization, is present in many copies.
A homogeneous and important group is formed by the Persian manuscripts, mostly literary works. Iran has given the world a few great poets, whose writings have been translated in most of the modern languages. Works of great universal authors like Ferdousi, Hafez, Saadi are part of the manuscripts kept in the collection. Among Persian manuscripts, some very valuable, belonged to the philologist Timotei Cipariu, passionate researcher of the Oriental culture.
The Hebrew manuscript Meghi'lat Esther (Estera) has a special place. This scroll, richly illustrated, has been copied and adorned on the territory of Moldavia in the 17th century.