Iran seeks registration of five books on UNESCO list

TEHRAN,Apr.21(MNA) -- Iran recently applied for registration of five rare books on UNESCO’s Memory of the World Register list. The five books have been proposed by the Iranian National Commission for UNESCO, the National Library and Archives of Iran (NLAI) Director Reza Salahi-Amiri said in the first press conference after the Noruz holiday on Sunday. The Bustan (The Orchard) and the Gulistan (The Rose Garden) of Persian poet Sadi (c. 1213-1291), inscribed by the 14th century calligrapher Ahmad Shirazi and preserved in the National Library and Archives of Iran, (NLAI) is one of the books submitted, NLAI Deputy Director Gholamreza Amirkhani explained. A copy of Masnavi-ye Manavi, the magnum opus of the Persian mystic and poet Molana Jalal ad-Din Rumi (1207-1273) is the second document, he added. The third document is Abu Is’haq Ibrahim ibn Muhammad al-Farisi al-Istakhri’s “Kitab al-masalik wa-al-mamalik” (Book of Roads and Kingdoms) dating back to the 10th century, he said, adding that the Persian translation of the book is being preserved in the National Museum of Iran. However, the original text is being kept in a library in Germany and the book has been jointly proposed by Iran and Germany to UNESCO, Amirkhani said. A rare copy of “Al-abnia ‘an haqaeq al-adwia” written by the 12th century writer Abu Mansur Mowaffaq Heravi is the fourth book. The fifth document is Safarnama (travelogue) by the 11th century Persian poet Nasir Khusraw, he concluded. UNESCO’s Memory of the World Register is a list of library collections and archive holdings of world significance.