National Museum of Iran displaying oldest Qurans

Concurrent with the arrival of the holy month of Ramadan, the National Museum of Iran has put on display a digital collection of the oldest Qurans.

As Muslims welcome the beginning of the holy month of Ramadan, a time of fasting, prayer, and charity, and following the use of new technologies in introducing Iranian culture and art, a digital selection of ancient Quranic books written in the Kufic script has been put on show at the museum with the possibility of seeing all pages in touch screens.

The digital exhibition allows visitors to see the necessary information and all pages at once by touching the screen while zooming in and out.

The collection of the ancient Qurans is believed to belong to the third and fourth centuries AH.

Being restored and cover made, most of them, as experts say, were dedicated by the Safavid kings to the tomb of Sheikh Safi al-Din Ardabili, the grandfather of the kings of the Safavid dynasty, who had top spiritual position and founded Safaviyya movement.

From the mentioned collection, some 12 copies have been provided for the use of researchers and visitors.

The collection of the manuscripts on display at the Museum of Islamic Archaeology and Art of Iran has been written on tanned sheets of deer’s skin.  

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