Mingana Collection
Established | 1924 |
---|---|
Collections | Syriac and Arabic manuscripts |
Collection size | > 3,000 documents |
Founder | Alphonse Mingana |
Director | Susan Worrall |
Owner | University of Birmingham |
Website | www |
The Mingana Collection of Middle Eastern manuscripts, comprising over 3,000 documents, is held by the
History
In 1924
The Mingana Collection is housed at the Special Collections at the University of Birmingham where it is available for study.[2] The collection is designated by the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council as being of "international importance". A major exhibition of manuscripts from the collection entitled Illuminating Faith was held at the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery in 2005.
Collections
The Mingana Collection is made up of:
- 660 Syriac and
- 270 Arabic Christian manuscripts including a fragment of the oldest known text of the St. Ephrem.
- 2000 Arabic Islamic manuscripts mainly on religious subjects. There are several copies of the , law, literature, science and mysticism.
- Examples of Samaritan and Sanskritmanuscripts.
The manuscripts in the collection have proven to be a significant resource for Western scholarship in regards to the Qu'ran and other religious scriptures. In 2015, a Quranic manuscript in the collection was identified as one of the oldest to have survived, having been written between 568 and 645.[4][1]
The Virtual Manuscript Room (VMR) project presents full digitized manuscripts from collection. As well as high-resolution images of each page, the VMR provides descriptions from the printed catalogue and from Special Collections' own records.
References
- ^ a b "'Oldest' Koran fragments found in Birmingham University". BBC Online. 22 July 2015. Retrieved 22 July 2015.
- ^ Special Collections
- ^ Samir, Samir Khalil. "ALPHONSE MINGANA 1878-1937" (PDF). Selly Oak Colleges. Retrieved 16 October 2022.
- ^ "Birmingham Qur'an manuscript dated among the oldest in the world". University of Birmingham. 22 July 2015. Retrieved 22 July 2015.
Sources
- .
- .
- *Samir, Kahil Samir. "Alphonse Mingana 1878-1937" (PDF). Selly Oak Colleges, Birmingham, 1990. Archived from the original (PDF) on 12 August 2011.