Memory of the World: The treasures that record our history from 1700 BC to the present day. UNESCO
Persian Letters, Heine’s Poet Firdausi and Esenin’s Persian Motives among others.
Illustration of a country meal, from a Hafez manuscript on the subject of love.
Collection of medieval manuscripts of the Czech Reformation
Inscribed 2007
What is it
The collection of Czech manuscripts relating to what became the Hussite movement for religious reform and its offshoot Christian denomination, the Unity of Brethren.
Why was it inscribed
The collection represents a movement which in retrospect can be said to have anticipated and influenced the Reformation that took place in Germany and Switzerland and spread across Europe in the 16th century.
Where is it
National Library of the Czech Republic, Prague, Czech Republic
All the documents in the collection relate to reforming ideas that influenced or originated in the Czech Church from the late-medieval period into the early-modern era. Manuscripts relating to reform movements within the Church are far less common than printed material, and extensive manuscript collections such as this one, even less so. The collection is also distinct in that it is held in or close to its place of origin. Although the collection, containing the works of various authors, lacks a uniformity of theme, its time-span allows an overview of the development of Czech and other European ideas of reform over a long period.
Many of the manuscripts in the collection are either originals or direct copies of originals, and are often unique. They comprise a wide variety of material, ranging from transcriptions of tracts and sermons by Czech priests and lay preachers to some of the polemical works of English priest John Wycliffe, a noted critic of clerical immorality and vocal advocate of reform in the Church in the 14th century. The collection also contains works by German priest Konrad von Waldhausen, who lived and preached in Prague in the 1360s and whose ideas influenced Czech clergyman Jan Hus (c. 1369–1415).
Among the most important documents in the collection are the works of Jan Hus himself. Hus was a supporter of Wycliffe, whose work he translated, and was also influenced by the ideas of von Waldhausen. He became one of the most prominent figures among those agitating for reform and set an example that was followed by many younger, reform-minded priests in the Czech lands. Many of his most important works are represented in original form and in copies made later by his contemporaries and students.
After Hus was executed in 1415, civil unrest brought the Czech lands to the brink of civil war. Hus’s followers split into various factions, one of which was the Unity of Brethren (Unitas Fratrum); the collection also contains documents relating to this denomination. Still in existence today, it is the oldest Czech Protestant church.
National Library of the Czech Republic, Prague, where the manuscripts are housed.
A depiction of Czech cleric Jan Hus being led to his execution in 1415.
The Deed For Endowment: Rab’ i-Rashidi (Rab i-Rashidi Endowment) 13th-century manuscript
Inscribed 2007
What is it
The deed of endowment of the Rab’ i-Rashidi in the city of Tabriz. The Rab’ i-Rashidi was a noted and multi-faceted academic complex which undertook many educational, charitable and industrial functions.
Why was it inscribed
The high value of the many endowed properties and the famous reputation of the Rab’ i-Rashidi gives the manuscript great importance. The institution of the waqf, or endowment, is a central pillar of Islamic society and this deed therefore provides an important record of political and economic administration in Central Asia at a time of great dynamism and change.
Where is it
Tabriz Central Library, Tabriz, Iran
Seven centuries ago, the city of Tabriz was the flourishing capital of the Mongol Ilkhanid dynasty (c. 1260–1353) and a regional intellectual and cultural hub, ruled by Il-Khan Mahmud Ghazan (1295–1304). Ghazan Khan’s wazir, or lord chancellor, was Khajeh Rashid al-Din Fazlollah Hamadani. A doctor, mathematician and author of a history of the Persian language, he founded an academic complex known as the Rab’ i-Rashidi, or Suburb of Rashid, on the outskirts of Tabriz.
The Rab’ i-Rashidi contained a paper mill, library, teaching hospital, orphanage, caravanserai, textile factory, teachers’ training college and seminary, and attracted students and thinkers from as far away as China. The purpose of this endowment, or waqf, was to ensure that as many of the scientific treatises written by the wazir Rashid al-Din, or which fell into his possession, could be copied.
The endowment details the justification for the complex, its management system and the administration and budget of the endowed properties which included land in present-day Afghanistan, Asia Minor, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Iraq and Syria as well as in Iran. The endowment manuscript is 382 pages long, of which the first 290 pages were written by Rashid al-Din himself, with the city governor and two scribes completing the rest.
Historical records show that five copies of the original manuscript were made under the supervision of Rashid al-Din. Four were either destroyed or were used to improve the current manuscript, which is therefore the only extant copy of the deed.
Tabriz under the Mongol Ilkhanids became a centre of book production and manuscript illustration. The significance and high status of the deed of endowment was reflected in the costly materials, including Chinese paper and gold, used in its creation; its cover page is elaborately designed with gilded calligraphy.
Mongols storming and capturing Baghdad in 1258, from the ‘Jami al-Tawarikh’ by Rashid al-Din.
Batu Bersurat, Terengganu (Inscribed Stone of Terengganu)
Inscribed 2009
What is it
The Inscribed Stone of Terengganu provides the earliest evidence of Jawi writing (Malay written in an Arabic script) in the Muslim world of Southeast Asia.
Why was it inscribed
The Stone is a testimony to the spread of Islam, offering an insight to the life of the people of the era and depicting the growing Islamic culture reflected in religious laws.
Where is it
Terengganu State Museum, Kuala Terengganu, Malaysia
With the arrival of Islam in Southeast Asia in the 10th or 11th century, an Islamic way of living based on the teachings of the Koran and the Hadith (practices of the Prophet) became widespread, and with this, the use of the Jawi script. It heralded a new age of literacy, when converts to the new faith gradually replaced the previous Hindu-derived script with Jawi, as a way of expressing their new belief. As a testimony to the spread of Islam that emanated from the Middle East, the Inscribed Stone offers more than just a glimpse of the life of the people of the era. This historical artefact also depicts the growing Islamic culture reflected in a set of religious laws. A feature of this historic movement was the growth of maritime commerce that centred around Kuala Berang, the place where the Batu Bersurat was found in 1887 and whose significance was recognized in 1902. The Inscribed Stone alludes to regional trade that flourished in the course of Islamization, with its trading patterns and the related movement of peoples.
While the