The maintenance of ancient manuscripts and their transmission to future generations is the duty of all, MP Mehriban Aliyeva, the President of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation, UNESCOs Good Will Ambassador, stated in Baku on 12 June to the opening ceremony of the international conference on Medicine and Pharmaceutics in the medieval manuscripts. The event was organized jointly by the Heydar Aliyev Foundation and the Washington Academy of Sciences with the support of UNESCO, Trend reports.
Aliyeva acquainted the participants in the conference with activities of the Foundation that she leads, spoke about big programs and projects directed at the development of culture, education and medicine. Most of them are implemented in close cooperation with the international organizations, in particular, UNESCO and benefit the support of the international organizations, she noted.
Every event of the kind along with best scientific achievements better demonstrates to the world community the realities and progress of Azerbaijan. The current event is a next stage in this cooperation, Aliyeva emphasized.
According to Aliyeva, three rare and unique manuscripts on medicine and pharmaceutics, belonging to Azerbaijan, were included on 29 July 2005 in the international register of UNESCO program Memory of the World. These are the works Zahirei Nizamshahi (13th century) by Rustam Jurjiani, Al ganun fit-tibb by Abu Ali Ibn Sina (12th century) and Al Magalat as-Salasun by Abdulgasim Zahravi (11th century). This program also includes the preservation of written monuments, which has imperishable significance for the entire mankind. At present the register of the program includes 120 written monuments of 57 world countries and the inclusion of three manuscripts of Azerbaijan in the register once more testifies for ancientness of the Azerbaijani history, Aliyeva stated.
In general, the Institute of Manuscripts of the National Academy of Sciences of Azerbaijan reserves over 12,000 manuscripts, which are the national heritage of the nation and integral part of Azerbaijani history.
A greeting appeal by Konchiro Matzuuri, the Secretary General of UNESCO, was read out to the opening ceremony. In his letter Matzuuri noted the significance of the event. The Manuscripts reserved in Azerbaijan are considerable contribution to the program Memory of the World, which demonstrates the role of Azerbaijan in the development of the world medicine, he underlined.
Addressing the conference were the Vice President of the Washington Academy of Sciences, Alan Twade, the President of the International Society of Medical History, Afanasious Diamandupulos, the Director of the UNESCO Department for Information Society, Abdulaziz Abid. The speakers appraised Azerbaijans condition in the maintenance and development of world science and culture, emphasized the role of the countrys leadership in this sphere and voiced their readiness for cooperation with the Heydar Aliyev Foundation.
The program of the conference covers several items like the medical manuscripts of the middle ages, pharmaceutics antiquity and the Middle Ages, medicine in the classic literature, peoples medicine.
The ceremonial opening of the conference was held at the Heydar Aliyev Foundation, while the first and second sessions will be staged in Yacht-Club, the third and the final in the regional representation of the Foundation in Yevlakh District, West Azerbaijan.
Participants in the event were provided with an opportunity to get familiar in the foyer of the Foundation with unique exponents reserved in the Institute of Manuscripts. Delegates from
Germany, Turkey, Bahrain, Israel, Estonia, the United States, Georgia, Egypt, UK, Iran, Russia, Greece, Ukraine, Russia, Algeria and others were in attendance.
The visit program also includes a tribute at the memorial of former Azerbaijani President Heydar Aliyev, tour of regions (Yevlakh, Shaki and Gobustan), where they plan to participate n the culture events and get familiar with culture-historic monuments.
