Azernews.Az

The US embassy in Azerbaijan will award a grant worth $53,109 to the repository of the country's premier collection of rare Eastern medieval texts.
The purpose of the grant designated for the Mohammad Fuzuli Institute of Manuscripts of the National Academy of Sciences is to provide much-needed equipment to help the Institute properly and safely store and display some of the 40,000 Azeri, Turkish, Uzbek, Persian and Arabic works on medicine, astronomy, mathematics, poetry, philosophy, law, history and geography, as well as rare Korans dating back to the 15th century. The project will help to renew the Institute's outdated heating and air-conditioning system, provide power to storage and displays rooms, and equip the collection with a fire control system. Once the renovations are complete the manuscripts will be on display for the public.
This grant is a result of a recent visit to the Institute by US Assistant Secretary of State for Educational and Cultural Affairs Goli Ameri.
While touring a special exhibit of some of the rare manuscripts, Ameri remarked that "once preserved and made accessible, this unique collection of manuscripts and documents will help deepen the world's appreciation of Azerbaijan's cultural legacy for many years to come."
The grant will be awarded through the US Ambassadors Fund for Cultural Preservation. Since 2001, this fund has supported more than 400 cultural preservation projects worldwide totaling $11.3 million. In Azerbaijan, it supported the restoration of an ancient Albanian Basilica in Qum, as well as the ongoing restoration of the 17th and 18th century mosque in Gala village.