Full protection for Turk manuscripts

The Konya Regional Handwritten Manuscripts Library, where inestimable works of many intellectuals from Rumi to İbn-I Arabi, is growing richer day by day thanks to books that are being donated or purchased.

Speaking to the Anatolia news agency, the Library’s Director Bekir Şahin said the library opened in 1984 when the Burdur Public Library was flooded and lots of priceless handwritten manuscripts suffered damage. He said their aim was to gather valuable handwritten manuscript collections from museums all over the country, to protect them in an appropriate environment and present them to researchers after being maintained and restored.

Şahin said the central Anatolian city of Konya was rich in cultural values, as it was once the capital of the Anatolian Seljuk State. "This fact makes the library very special. The library has the most number of handwritten manuscripts after the Süleymaniye Library in Istanbul," he added.

Şahin said the Konya Regional Handwritten Manuscripts Library also had many handwritten manuscripts from the Ottoman period as well as the Seljuk, and continued: "Konya is the capital of the Seljuk. Works from Sadrettin Konevi, İbn-I Arabi and Rumi are among the most striking ones in the library. Hacı Bektaş-ı Veli Library is in Konya, too. It has the largest collection of the world in the field of medical manuscripts. Hundreds of intellectuals have works in the library, which keeps the largest collection of Anatolia in its depots."

Total of 83,602 works
The Konya Regional Handwritten Manuscripts Library has a total of 83,602 works, which have been collected through donations, turnover or by purchase. Şahin said the historical manuscripts were rebound like their original, and added: "Some of these inestimable works have been preserved in steel cases and can only be opened by three officials. They are under full protection against robbery, fire and natural disasters such as earthquakes."

High-level of protection
Şahin said the woks were maintained very carefully. "Handwritten books and printed ones with old alphabets are being kept in different depots. A constant temperature of 16 centigrade in winter and 24 centigrade in summer must be kept. The ideal humidity rate is 50 percent, and there must be 50-lux light intensity. The windows have UV protection and covered with dark colored curtains. All windows and doors are isolated against external factors. Books are overhauled from time to time, and the some are taken from shelves to take fresh air," he said.

A modern building is needed
The library building, which is welcoming new books and collections all the time, is insufficient, complains Şahin, saying: "The service building has four floors with the ground floor. The library has an area of 723 square meters with 14 workrooms, four lounges, four special steel cases, where handwritten manuscripts are being preserved, four depots where printed works are kept, and a CD room. As it grows richer with new books, the building becomes insufficient. This is why the library needs a new and modern building."