TEHRAN -- Dutch professor Jan Just Witkam, master of codicology and paleography of the Islamic world announced that the University of Leiden in the Netherlands is home to over 2000 Persian manuscripts.

Professor Witkam arrived to Tehran last week by invitation of Ali-Akbar Velayati, Head of the Islamic Civilization Committee.
Witkam, who teaches archaeology at the College of Arts and Humanities of the University of Leiden, added that the university is home to over 27,000 inscriptions of which 7000 copies are oriental manuscripts,”
“There are two rare copies of masterpieces by Ferdowsi and Khayyam among the preserved Persian manuscripts,” he told the Mehr News Agency.
He emphasized that one manuscript of Ferdowsi’s Shahnameh is very precious, adding, “The beautiful, intricate inscriptions and designs have made it a very special and unique artwork.”
“Another rare copy belongs to a book on mathematics inscribed by Omar Khayyam,” he remarked.
Professor Witkam held a workshop on codicology last Wednesday at the venue of the National Library of Iran, which experts and university professors as well as a number of students and researchers attended.
He also met with researchers at Tehran’s Miras-e Maktub Institute last Tuesday, and is planning to attend several other cultural meetings.
He has also moderated the Islamic manuscripts website which provides inventories of major manuscript collections and a wealth of other information related to Islamic manuscripts.
The website includes recent inventories of the Oriental manuscripts collections at Leiden University and the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences.