DUSHANBE, October 22, 2009, Asia-Plus — The laboratory for reconstruction of ancient manuscripts was opened at the Institute of Oriental Studies and Written Heritage of the Academy of Sciences of Tajikistan in Dushanbe yesterday.
The lab has been set up under financial support of the Juma Al Majid Heritage and Culture Center, the United Arab Emirates (UAE). A total cost of the laboratory is 100,000 U.S. dollars
Before the lab-opening ceremony, an agreement on cooperation in the filed of culture and science was signed.
Speaking at the document-signing ceremony, Sheikh Juma Al-Majid, the founder and chairman of the Center, noted that Tajikistan is the first country in Central Asia, where such a lab was set up. In all, 25 laboratories for reconstruction of ancient manuscripts have been founded across the world, he noted. “Our goal is to preserve historical heritages throughout the world irrespective of religion and nationality in order to make it available to the next generation.”
For his part, academician Mamadsho Ilolov, President of the Academy of Sciences of Tajikistan, noted that they had reached an agreement on a broad cooperation in the field of science and culture. “The Juma Al Majid Heritage and Culture Center is ready to assist us with storing folklore holdings of the Institute of Tajik Language and Literature in digital format,” the academician said.
More than 5,530 manuscripts are currently stored at the Institute of Oriental Studies and Written Heritage. Many of them are dated to 9th–13th centuries.
Established in 1991, the Juma Al Majid Heritage and Culture Center the Juma Al Majid Heritage and Culture Center is a nonprofit charitable foundation to achieve the following objectives: outspreading culture for all; serving researchers and encouraging them to search; and safeguarding and preservation of Islamic and Arabic heritage as well as publishing it.
The Center founder and chairman, Sheikh Juma Al-Majid, is one of the most successful businessmen in Dubai as well as being a man of culture, thought, and charities in UAE and the Arabian Gulf.
