International scientific conference “History of writing of European civilization and written culture of the peoples of Russia

On 17 October 2023, the National Library of the Republic of Tatarstan hosted the International scientific conference “History of writing of the European civilization and the written culture of the peoples of Russia” within the project “History of writing of the European civilization”.
The scientific conference is organized by the Tatarstan Academy of Sciences, the St. Petersburg Institute of History of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the Institute of Russian Literature of the Russian Academy of Sciences (The Pushkin House), the Library of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and the National Library of the Republic of Tatarstan.
The event is attended by leading specialists in source studies, textologists, linguists, archeographers and paleographers studying texts of Latin, Greek, Cyrillic, Arabic, Hebrew and other alphabets, representing scientific schools of the Republic of Tatarstan, Moscow, St. Petersburg, regions of the Russian Federation and neighboring countries (Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, etc.).
The main topics of the conference: the written culture of the peoples of Russia in the context of the development of writing of European civilization; Cyrillic writing as a component of written culture; Arabic writing as a phenomenon of cultural evolution of Eastern civilization; origin of Turkic writing: Runic script and Uyghur writing; monuments of Jewish writing: place, role and significance in the historical context; Greek, Latin, Armenian, Georgian, Glagolitic, Scandinavian runic, Permian writing in the history of Europe; the role of numismatics in the study of written culture.
The conference was opened by the President of the Tatarstan Academy of Sciences R.N. Minnikhanov. Deputy Chairman of the State Council of the Republic of Tatarstan M.G. Akhmetov and Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences A.A. Gippius made welcome speech.
At the plenary session, reports were presented by A.A. Timerkhanov, Vice-President of the Tatarstan Academy of Sciences; A.V. Sirenov, Director of the St. Petersburg Institute of History of the Russian Academy of Sciences; B.A. Аbdukhalimov, Vice-President of the Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Uzbekistan, Director of the Abu Rayhan Biruni Institute of Oriental Studies of the Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Uzbekistan; Fazylzhanova Anar Muratkyzy, Director of the Institute of Linguistics named after Akhmet Baitursunuly; A.B. Najafov, Scientific Secretary of the Institute of Manuscripts named after Mahammad Fuzuli, Vice-Rector of the Islamic Azad University of the Islamic Republic of Iran Bijan Ranjabar.
The Internet portal “History of writing of European civilization: experience of standardising the representation of written heritage” was presented in the report of the Director of the Institute of Archaeology named after A.Kh. Khalikov of the Tatarstan Academy of Sciences A.G. Sitdikov together with the Director of the G. Ibragimov Institute of Language, Literature and Art of the Tatarstan Academy of Sciences K.M. Minnullin and Head of the Centre of Written Heritage of the G. Ibragimov Institute of Language, Literature and Art of the Tatarstan Academy of Sciences I.G. Gumerov. The development of the Internet portal is based on the creation experience of the infogeographical system “Cultural Heritage of Tatarstan and Tatar people”, which is a digital space, made by the Institute of Archaeology named after A.Kh. Khalikov of the Tatarstan Academy of Sciences for the integration of humanitarian knowledge. The basic provisions of this software development were in demand and became the basis for the creation of the Internet portal “History of writing” in cooperation with the St. Petersburg Institute of History RAS with the support of federal grant from the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation. This system presented in open access for the first time standard examples of writing in the form of digital copies of manuscript and epigraphic monuments from the archives of Russia, representing the history of writing in different traditions and languages.
As part of the conference, the exhibition “History of writing of European and Eastern civilizations” was opened, where three sections, dedicated to the Cyrillic tradition, Arabic writing and Latin script, presented. The exhibition shows valuable items from the collections of the Museum of Archaeology RT of the Institute of Archaeology named after A.Kh. Khalikov of the Tatarstan Academy of Sciences: silver coins of the middle of the X – beginning of the XI centuries – “Kufic dirhams”, Burunduki hoard coins, fragments of architectural objects and headstones of the first half of the XVI century.
The conference will run until October 19 with the work of the sections “Arabographic written sources”, “Cyrillic documents”, “Writing traditions of the modern era. The written culture of the peoples of Russia”, “Greek and Latin manuscripts”, “Epigraphy and numismatics in the study of written culture”, “Jewish, Armenian, Permian scripts and writing systems of mixed traditions”. Besides scientific discussions, it is also planned to hold an open lecture on restoration “Restoration of objects made of paper. Manuscript and book restoration features “, as well as master classes in calligraphy and an excursion.