The unveiling ceremony was attended by Mohammad Mahdi Ahmadi, Iran's cultural attaché at the country’s embassy in Spain and Ana Santos Aramburo, the director of the National Library of Spain as well as other officials of the library.
In a speech on the occasion, Mahdi Ahmadi described “The Wonders of Creation and Rarities of Existence” (‘Aja’ib al-makhluqat wa ghara’ib al-mawjudat) by Zakariyya al-Qazwini as one of the most reliable and authoritative books, which talks about creatures, such as minerals, plants, animals, and in other words, the entire universe.
“This book was first written in Arabic dating back to 1280 AD and then translated into Persian. The original manuscript is currently kept in the Munich Museum, Germany. This book has been translated into several living languages of the world”, he explained.
The Iranian diplomat also talked about the rich culture and tradition of his country where Iranian literary figures left behind enormous works in the fields of literature, history, philosophy, mysticism, jurisprudence and principles, medicine and astronomy.
“There are thousands of exquisite manuscripts from the 2nd century onward being preserved in the National Library of Iran, the oldest available copy is the book Al-Khalas by Adib Natanzi, which dates back to a thousand years ago", he said.
The copies of these manuscripts are also available in Iran's university libraries, Astana Quds Library in Mashhad and Ayatollah Najafi Marashi's library in Qom, he added.
IRNA