An Iranist scholar of the Faculty of Oriental Studies delivered a leadership lecture at the 5th Meeting of the Association of Manuscript Researchers of Kazakhstan

On January 21, within the framework of SDG 17 “Partnerships for Sustainable Development,” Candidate of Philological Sciences, Senior Lecturer, and research fellow at Sorbonne-Nouvelle University under the “Bolashak – 500 Scholars” program, Galiya Amzekyzy Kambarbekova, delivered a lecture titled: “Persian Manuscripts in the National Library of France: History, Collectors, and Features of the Catalogues.”

At the beginning of the lecture, G.A. Kambarbekova provided extensive information about the history and current state of France’s two national library sites in Paris — BNF Richelieu and BNF François Mitterrand, as well as their structure and operational systems.

The second part of the lecture focused on manuscripts related to Central Asia preserved in these libraries. It was noted that the Persian manuscripts held at the Richelieu site of the National Library of France date from the 7th to the 20th centuries of the Islamic era. Among them are manuscripts of the Mongol-period works “Tarikh-i Jahangushay”, “Jami al-Tawarikh,” the manuscript of “Jami at-Tawarikh” by Qadir Ali Beg Jalair, and other significant sources.

The following section of the lecture presented information on the catalogues of Persian manuscripts in France, their compilation history, and the French Orientalists who prepared them. It was also emphasized that Persian manuscripts are mainly preserved in manuscript collections of Iran (1 million), India (500,000), Turkey (500,000), Central Asia (100,000), as well as Russia, France, England, Germany, the USA, and other countries.

G.A. Kambarbekova is a graduate of the Faculty of Oriental Studies of Al-Farabi Kazakh National University (Bachelor’s degree) and the University of Tehran (Master’s and Doctoral degrees). She holds a Candidate of Sciences degree in Philology and is a member of the Oxford-based manuscript studies organization The Islamic Manuscript Association.

Aiman ​​Boranbaeva

Senior Lecturer, Department of Middle East and South Asia