By Azernews

By Laman Ismayilova

The Culture Ministry and Azerbaijan Youth Foundation invite you to join the intellectual competition "Treasury of Secrets" through G?ncApp.

The virtual competition encourages young people to learn more about the literary heritage of Azerbaijani poet and thinker Nizami Ganjavi. 

The competition is open to young people aged between 16 and 29 years. The competition's first stage will take place on March 17-21. Participants will be presented with one question every day via G?ncApp.

According to the results of the competition, the three participants with the most points will be announced as winners.  The competition will last until the end of the year.

Notably, the year 2021 in Azerbaijan has been declared as the year of Nizami Ganjav.

President Ilham Aliyev declared this year the "Year of Nizami Ganjavi" in Azerbaijan, taking into account the exceptional importance of the poet's work, which always calls people to moral perfection and instills high spiritual qualities as an achievement of human culture.

 The country also celebrates the 880th anniversary of  the great poet and thinker with multiple events. 

The Cabinet of Ministers has been instructed to develop and implement an action plan for the Nizami Ganjavi Year.

Nizami's legacy is of great importance for Azerbaijani culture. The poet, who began by writing lyrics in short forms – gasida, gazal, rubai has gained popularity all over the world.

The works of Nizami Ganjavi were translated into many languages. The rare manuscript copies of his works are kept and preserved like precious pearls in famous libraries, museums and literary foundations in cities such as Moscow, St. Petersburg, Baku, Tashkent, Tabriz, Tehran, Cairo, Istanbul, Delhi, London, Paris and others.

In Khamsa (Quintet), the poet revealed the living pages of history. The attack of the Russians on Barda city, a fairy tale of the Russian Princess, the beautiful Shirin amazons, battles, described in various poems of Nizami - all this is historically and geographically related to medieval Azerbaijan and the Caucasus.

The description of a man's inner world, his feelings, and thoughts along with the dynamic development of the main hero's characters underlies the basic aim and content of Nizami’s literary school.

Nizami Ganjavi passed away in 1209 in his native city of Ganja. A grandiose tomb was raised over his grave.