More than 113,000 sheets of manuscripts digitized in Dagestan

1964
2
Makhachkala, March 21, 2018. A year ago, Ziyavudin Magomedov’s Charity Foundation "Peri" along with the Institute of History, Archeology and Ethnography of Dagestan Scientific Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences started the implementation of the project on digitizing manuscripts. To date, 493 manuscripts with a total amount of 113 thousand 173 scanned sheets had already been digitized.

Besides, the identification, archaeographic description and compilation of database were carried out for 900 manuscripts. So, each manuscript was assigned a number, the language indication, the title, subject and author description as well as the date and place of creation.

Descriptions are given in Arabic and English languages. The English was chosen to make the scanned manuscripts and their descriptions more available for the European researchers. The descriptions in Arabic more accurately convey the composition of the manuscript, its names in the world catalogs and the genres. Note the manuscript descriptors take into account the experience of creating electronic catalogs of the world's largest libraries, where Arabic-language manuscripts are kept (British, Alexandrian, Berlin, Leiden, Jerusalem, etc.).

Currently, all the digitized manuscripts were descripted. After the editorial processing they will be placed in the public domain. Now all the digitized materials are copied to the server.

Recall, at the beginning of last year, within the framework of the international program "Cultural Heritage 2.0", the foundation "Peri" started digitizing the archive of eastern manuscripts in the Center. For this purpose, the Foundation officers delivered a unique large-format scanner to Dagestan. "Peri" plans to purchase an additional mobile scanner for digitizing the other unique manuscripts stored in mosques, madrassas and private collections.

Apart from the digitizing activity, on May 17 last year, the Peri Foundation opened a unique laboratory at the Institute of IEA to preserve and restore the ancient monuments of written culture. It is equipped with the most modern units and materials. The laboratory equipment makes it possible to produce paper for the restoration of manuscripts in place, taking into account the color, properties and characteristics of the document to be restored. This high-tech process that requires exclusively natural ingredients is unique in Russia.

Новости раздела