On March 18 and 20, 2025 a series of lectures and master classes on restoring manuscripts took place in Makhachkala in the framework of events dedicated to Muslim written heritage. It was held by Hamid Malekian who is an Iranian scholar, a restorer, the head of the group for the preservation of paper works in the ICOM committee, the editor-in-chief and the executive director of the magazine «Iranian Art».
On March 18 Hamid Malekian delivered a lecture on traditional paper production and lesshing techniques at the Institute of History, Archeology and Ethnography of the Dagestan Federal Research Centre of the Russian Academy of Sciences. He spoke on creating ancient papers and books, manual and matrix embossing, the use of thin leather stencil and colored paper. During the master class Mr. Malekian shared his own experience of restoring manuscripts, and demonstrated instruments and materials that he used to explore in his work.
On March 20 Hamid Malekian held a lecture dedicated to restoring manuscripts aat the Dagestan State University. He spoke on factors influencing on preservation of manuscripts or may damage it.
At the end of the lecture the documentary “The Dot” filmed with the assistance of Ibn Sina Foundation in 2019 and dedicated to the art of Islamic calligraphy was screened.
Afterwards Hamid Malekian visited the Dagestan State University Library in order to get acquainted with unique manuscripts preserved in it. He gave some reccomendations on its restoring and storage.
In the second part of the day the Iranian scholar held a lecture and a master class at the Institute of History, Archeology and Ethnography of the Dagestan Federal Research Centre of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Hamid Malekian showed to employees of the Laboratory for Restoring Manuscripts embossing techniques using cliche, as well as techniques of restoring damaged manuscripts.
The following institutions organised the programme of events dedicated to Muslim written heritage: Ibn Sina Foundation, the Institute of History, Archeology and Ethnography of the Dagestan Federal Research Centre of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Centre of Iranian Studies of the Faculty of Oriental Studies of the Dagestan State University.
