A catalog of the exhibition “Islam in the Photo Collection of the Imperial Orthodox Palestinian Society” was published with the assistance of Ibn Sina Foundation, the State Museum of the History of Religion and the Petersburgh Museum of Islamic Culture. The catalog was prepared by the employees of the Laboratory “The International Centre of Islamic Studies” of the Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography of the Russian Academy of Sciences: by a Soviet and Russian Arabic and Islamic studies scholar, a doctor of historical sciences, a professor and the chief of the Laboratory Efim Anatolievich Rezvan, and by a research scholar of the Laboratory Anna Yurievna Kudryavtseva. 

The Imperial Orthodox Palestinian Society began to collect photos of the Middle East (including the photos of 1850-1870) since its creation. This collection is now present at the State Museum of the History of Religion, and it poses a serious interest for the experts in the history of Islam. Photos of places of worship significant for both Muslims, Christians and Jews are especially precious. As well, photos depicting an ordinary life of Muslims in Palestine, Syria, Egypt and Tunis are also important. Each group of photos is provided by Quranic verses, texts linked to the Russian culture, and necessary commentaries.

In a foreword to the catalog’s issue Mikhail Piotrovsky, a doctor of historical sciences, a professor, an academic of the Russian Academy of Sciences, a dean of the Oriental faculty of the Saint Petersburgh State University and the general director of the State Hermitage, has said: “I’m sure that this exhibition will find its visitors, and I believe that peace will return to this bless and pious place. The catalog of the project may become a precious guidebook to miraculous sanctities of three religions”.