Rare manuscripts about medieval Tatars brought to Kazan

 

January 31, 2019

 

Today at the board of the State Committee on Archival Affairs it was  told about the results of work for 2018. Last year, specialists of the archive managed to bring to Kazan a copy of the Meskhedian manuscript from Iran “Travel Notes of the Embassy of the Baghdad Caliph 921-922” by the Arab author Ibn Fadlan, written by him when he visited Russia and the  Volga Bulgaria.

This manuscript was found by Zaki Validi Togan, the pre-revolutionary Tatar enlightener, in 1922-24. Earlier, the State Archive had only a facsimile copy of the document.

Now, Kazan residents have the opportunity to familiarize themselves directly with the original source in Arabic, read notes on how  the Volga Bulgaria converted to Islam in 922, and how the medieval ancestors of modern Tatars and Russians looked.

A manuscript of medieval author from the Volga region Suleiman ibn Daud Al-Suvari, who wrote books in the second half of the 12th century in   the Volga Bulgaria, was also brought to Kazan. His work is called “The Beauty of Gardens and the Decoration of Suffering Hearts” – a collection of spiritual and instructive parables for Muslims.

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