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The collection of the Al-Biruni Institute of Oriental Studies

Inscribed 1997

What is it

This unique collection of works by the great scholars, poets and thinkers of Central Asia contains many original manuscripts and rare copies of major works on history, literature, philosophy, law, mathematics, the sciences and the fine arts.

Why was it inscribed

These manuscripts are of great significance in the development of Islamic science and culture as well as for the study of the history and culture of the peoples of Central Asia, India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran and the Arab world, and of the political, diplomatic and cultural relations between them.

Where is it

Al-Biruni Institute of Oriental Studies, the Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Uzbekistan, Tashkent, Uzbekistan

The collection of around 18,000 manuscripts is one of the richest depositories of Central Asian manuscripts in the world and reflects the importance of this region at the heart of the cultural exchange that took place along the Silk Road from China to the Mediterranean.

Many of the great medieval scholars, poets and thinkers of Central Asia and the Near and Middle East are represented in this collection. Their work has greatly enriched our spiritual life and contributed to the advancement of science, whether in geography and mathematics (the works of al-Biruni), astronomy (Ulugh Bey’s comprehensive Star Charts), philosophy (for example in the works of al-Farabi), medicine (Ibn Sina’s Canon) and in works of great literature (including the writings of Ferdowsi, Rumi and Khayyam). In addition, many works are invaluable for the study of Central Asian history, such as the 10th-century Takhkiki Viloyat’ and Bukharo Tarikhi’ by Ibn Jaffar Narshani, which describes the great trading city and Islamic intellectual centre of Bukhara, now in Uzbekistan. A number of historical works relate to the Mughal dynasty including the Tabakati Akbarshahi’ by al-Kharavi, dating from 1595, which serves as the main source for the history of India during that period.

The collection as a whole reflects the remarkable flowering of Islamic science and culture during the Middle Ages which was later to exercise a profound influence on Renaissance scholars in Europe. One of the oldest manuscripts (by Ibn Salam) is from AD 837.

A diagram showing the phases of the moon from al-Biruni’s Tafkhim li Availi Sinaat al-Tandjim (‘The Book of Teaching of the Fundamentals of Astrology’). The Collection contains one of the oldest copies of this very important astronomical work.

Among the rare works in the collection are one of the oldest known copies of al-Biruni’s Tafkhim li Availi Sinaat al-Tandjim (‘The Book of Teaching of the Fundamentals of Astrology’); fragments of poems by Ibn Sina, better known as philosopher and physician, and the only known copy of his book Salman and Ibsal; the Haft Awrang (‘Seven Colours’) and other works by Jami in the author’s own hand; one of the only three known copies in the world of the Kitab-e-Sindibad (‘The Book of Sindbad’). Many of the manuscripts contain exceptional examples of calligraphy, while others contain wonderful miniatures and elaborate contemporary bindings.

The collection was started with the founding of the Department of Oriental Studies at the Uzbekistan Public Library in 1870. The collections of the Scientific Research Institute of Samarkand, the Ibn Sina Library of Bukhara, the libraries of the Khans of Khiva and many others were added, and in 1943 the Al-Biruni Institute of Oriental Studies became the home of these collections.