Heritage ministry marks Arab Manuscript Day

MUSCAT: The Department of Manuscripts at the Ministry of Heritage and Culture is making intensive efforts to collect, catalog, edit and publish manuscripts.

The department maintains more than 5,000 manuscripts in various fields of science, and it preserves, maintains, and takes care of them to ensure their existence for long periods in its original form, given the knowledge and intellectual importance of Omani manuscript, and constitutes a knowledge, scientific and cultural asset of great importance and great prestige.

Historically, manuscripts have a cultural value and intellectual knowledge as a historical source of great importance, and one of the important channels for knowledge of historical facts and knowledge values, because it contains science, news, events and ethics, in addition to reflecting their own age of the scientific, intellectual, social and cultural features.

The manuscripts were digitally archived and authenticated. The department sought to acquire modern photocopying machines to do this. Most manuscripts were designed to make it easier for researchers to obtain electronic copies so that they could complete their research and scientific projects. The Manuscript Department has made efforts to search for manuscripts through field visits to the manuscripts inside the Sultanate.

The department has established several exhibitions in universities and colleges to acquaint students with the importance of manuscripts and how to preserve them properly.

In the field of printing and publishing, the department has been able to publish a number of new titles this year, for example Djami’ Ibn Baraka, Djami’ Ibn Jaafar with various publications by the Ministry of Heritage and Culture.