Manuscripts of Alisher Navoi's works in libraries in Istanbul

Four libraries in Istanbul now have a substantial collection of illustrated manuscripts by Alisher Navoi.

Among these, three collections include books from the treasury of former Ottoman emperors at the Topkopi Palace Museum Library and the Museum of Turkish and Islamic Art at Istanbul University Library. The Süleymaniye Library holds books taken from the Ottoman charitable foundations of the time. Some of them belonged to members of the ruling dynasty.

The seventeen manuscripts shown here are from the first half of the 16th century or may be from this period. They all belong to the Turkish-Persian world, which stretches from Herat to Istanbul, from Bukhara to Shiraz.