Rare manuscripts by Azerbaijani literary classics discovered in Hungary PHOTO

Valuable manuscripts by prominent figures of Azerbaijani literature and science, including Nizami Ganjavi, Khagani Shirvani, Mahmud Shabustari, Nasreddin Tusi, Sam Mirza, Saib Tabrizi and others, have been discovered in the Manuscripts and Rare Books Department of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences.

The works were discovered as a result of research conducted by Rafael Huseynov, director of the Nizami Ganjavi National Museum of Azerbaijani Literature and an academician, during his visit to Budapest, Caliber.Az reports, citing local media.

The research uncovered a manuscript considered a notable example of medieval book culture. Alongside various literary works, it contains a number of valuable pieces related to the miniature art of the Safavid era. The miniatures are reportedly associated with artists belonging to the school of Sultan Muhammad.

Researchers also discovered an early 18th-century Turkic translation of a treatise by scholar Nasreddin Tusi that had not previously been included among known sources. The manuscript also contains a chronicle on the history of Shirvan, two Turkic translations of Nizami Ganjavi’s Khosrow and Shirin, and other valuable texts.

Rafael Huseynov expressed his gratitude to Anna Stumpf and Judit Jablonka, staff members of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences’ Department of Oriental Manuscripts, for their assistance in preparing electronic copies of the discovered manuscripts.

The academy’s Manuscripts and Rare Books Department, which is celebrating its 200th anniversary, houses a rich collection of sources reflecting Hungary’s centuries-old scientific and cultural history.

By Bakhtiyar Abbasov