After the publication in Manuscripta Orientalia of two articles
on the oldest Qur’ānic manuscript from the collection
of the St. Petersburg Branch of the Institute of Oriental
Studies, a vivid interest in the manuscript was shown
both by specialists in Oriental studies and the general public.
The editors and author received many questions on
various aspects of the research in progress. One of the most
frequently asked questions was whether the negatives of the
63 pages, photographed by B. Babajanov in 1983 not long
before their confiscation. were restored after the damage
they suffered in a fire. The answer is unfortunately negative.
But according to what one of the characters in Mikhail
Bulgakov’s popular novel “The Master and Margarita” says
with heat. ‘Manuscripts do not burn!’, we can also say that
there is still hope that the photographs will be restored...
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