Thursday, March 28, 2002 (Almaty):
The manuscript of an ancient Koran that may be hundreds of years old has been found in a chest belonging to a 96-year-old woman in Kazakhstan, local officials said.
Nursan Aliambayev, head of Kazakhstan's Central Museum, said yesterday experts believed the manuscript was probably older than a 17th century Koran stored in the Kazakh national library.
The manuscript, 84 centimetres long and 53 centimetres wide, contains 496 pages and weighs around 40 kilogrammes.
The rare book has survived in good condition with only a few front pages slightly damaged.
Aliambayev said the Koran had been brought to the elderly woman's family by visiting merchants more than 100 years ago and had been passed on from generation to generation ever since.
Experts from the Institute of Oriental Sciences of the Russian Academy of Sciences are to be called in to determine the manuscript's age more precisely. (http://www.ndtv.com/
The manuscript of an ancient Koran that may be hundreds of years old has been found in a chest belonging to a 96-year-old woman in Kazakhstan, local officials said.
Nursan Aliambayev, head of Kazakhstan's Central Museum, said yesterday experts believed the manuscript was probably older than a 17th century Koran stored in the Kazakh national library.
The manuscript, 84 centimetres long and 53 centimetres wide, contains 496 pages and weighs around 40 kilogrammes.
The rare book has survived in good condition with only a few front pages slightly damaged.
Aliambayev said the Koran had been brought to the elderly woman's family by visiting merchants more than 100 years ago and had been passed on from generation to generation ever since.
Experts from the Institute of Oriental Sciences of the Russian Academy of Sciences are to be called in to determine the manuscript's age more precisely. (http://www.ndtv.com/
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