Oriental Manuscripts
The collection of oriental manuscripts was mainly established in the early 19th century. Century. Today it is the third largest collection of its kind in the Federal Republic of Germany.
The collection of oriental manuscripts in the Gotha Research Library primarily originated due to the activities of the scholar, Ulrich Jasper Seetzen. He travelled to the Middle East on behalf of the Dukes of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg in the early 19th century and acquired manuscripts. Today, the Gotha collection is considered the third largest of its kind, after those in Munich and Berlin. The collection represents a multi-facetted cross-section of Islamic scholarship over a period of 800 years, and contains manuscripts in Arabic, Ottoman Turkish, Persian and Syriac languages.
The collection is exceptional, not only because numerous manuscripts are unique. Its encyclopedic nature is also striking and reflects the intellectual horizon of Seetzen and his ducal sponsors influenced by the Enlightenment. It contains a wealth of private writings, documents, and recordings from scholars and unknown authors. Consequently, it provides a unique insight into pre-modern knowledge culture in the Middle East, particularly during the Ottoman period.
Contact Information
University of Erfurt | Gotha Research Library
Friedenstein Palace
Schlossplatz 1
D-99867 Gotha
bibliothek.gotha(at)uni-erfurt.de
Citation link
From the collection
Rises in the cost of foodstuffs, recorded in a manuscript.
Arabic secondary entry from 1661 in a manuscript of the world chronicle by Coptic historian al-Makīn (died 1273) in Karschuni (Arabic in Syriac script).
Instructions for making clocks
Schematic depiction of a 12th-century clock. From Damascus in the 18th century by Ibn as-Sāʿātī (known as the ‘Son of the Clockmaker’)
Court culture and flower cultivation
An Ottoman flower book with illustrations by ʿAlī Çelebi (1667/68), from the court environment in Istanbul
A map of the world with the “surrounding sea”
World map from the work “Sugar Jar of the Sultan” by Ibn Abī Ḥaǧala (1325–1375), inserted into an anthology of wine poetry
The moon and the celestial cosmography
Considerations on the radiance of the waxing and waning moon in the work “Marvels of Creation” by the cosmographer al-Qazwīnī (died 1283).
Poetry, cloud bands, and arabesques
Ornate Persian manuscript with the Dīwān of poet Anwarī from the year 1618
