Esteemed motion by Spanish Queen to Azerbaijan

Queen Sofia of Spain has presented ancient miniatures of great Azerbaijani poetess Mahsati Ganjavi to the Nizami Ganjavi International Center on her 900th anniversary, an official of the ANAS Ganja department reported.

According to the ANAS, eight miniatures and an illustration were presented to the Center by the Queen. The miniatures include ancient manuscripts.

Some of the miniatures are works of art taken to Spain from the Library of Ardabil by the Russians in the past. Some of them belong to Spain. As Spain had been a Muslim country for a long period of time, there are many ancient Eastern, Arab-Persian manuscripts there. The presented miniatures date back to the 14th and 15th centuries.

Mahsati Ganjavi was a 12th century poet, born in Ganja, and a famous rubai writer, with her most productive period spent in the palace of Sultan Mahmud Seldjuk and that of his uncle Sanjar Seldjuk. Mahsati Ganjavi commonly wrote rubai in Persian, with love as a key theme, and her work is distinguished by its humanism, epicurism and optimism.

The Nizami Ganjavi International Center hosts a global book forum and literature festival in May 2013 to widely celebrate the poet`s anniversary. The Open Central Asia Book Forum and Literature Festival 2013 will take place on May 3-5 at the Ganja-based center, and will be opened by Roza Otunbayeva, ex-President of the Kyrgyz Republic, and fellow distinguished members of the Center`s Council of Patrons and Board Members.

The event will bring together international, regional and local authors, publishing companies, government agencies, educational institutions, retailers, and readers, to help further develop the Azerbaijani and Central Asian publishing industries.


/AzerTAc/