Jalal ad-Din Rumi is considered as one of the most important Persian-language poets, philosophers and mystics of the Middle Ages. The Mevlevi order, the order of whirling Dervishes, goes back to Rumi, who is also known as Maulana (Mevlana in Turkish, "our master").

The manuscript from the holdings of the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek (BSB Cod.pers. 45) is the second of six books of Rumi's master work "Masnawi-ye ma'nawi" ("Spiritual Couplets"). The manuscript was created in 1307 and forms part of the earliest manuscripts of the "Masnawi-ye ma'nawi". The secondary entries in the margins of the pages, between the lines or the columns contribute to the high scholarly and text-historical importance of the manuscript. The Munich manuscript comes from the library of the well-known French Orientalist Étienne Marc Quatremère (1782 – 1857), which was acquired for the then Court Library in 1858.

The manuscript from the holdings of the Berlin State Library (Minutoli 21) comprises all six books of the "Maṯnawī-i maʿnawī" and contains around 25,000 verses. Crafted in the year 1337, the manuscript has two glossaries, which facilitate understanding the text with explanations, and additionally has margins in the form of supplements and variants. The manuscript forms part of the Minutoli collection, which was acquired in 1863 by the then Royal Library. The collection comprises 300 volumes, among them 117 Persian manuscripts.

Dr. Achim Bonte, Director General of the Berlin State Library – Prussian Cultural Heritage, and Dr. Klaus Ceynowa, Director General of the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek: "The entry of the manuscripts by Jalal ad-Din Rumi in the UNESCO Memory of the World Register again underlines the importance attached to the two state libraries on an international level, due to their unique historical holdings."

BSB Cod.pers. 45 in the Digital Collections of the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek:
https://mdz-nbn-resolving.de/details:bsb00036285

Minutoli 21 in the Digitized Collections of the Berlin State Library:
http://resolver.staatsbibliothek-berlin.de/SBB00002D7400000000

Image material
The press images of the two manuscripts BSB Cod.pers. 45 and Minutoli 21 can be found at:
https://syncandshare.lrz.de/getlink/fi5Z1A4mK6LF3JJy8Qc2X3/

Press release for download
Press release  (PDF, 215 KB)

Contact Bayerische Staatsbibliothek

Dr. Dorothea Sommer
Deputy Director General
Phone  +49 89 28638-2205
sommer@bsb-muenchen.de

Ulrike Rehusch
Press and Public Relations
Phone  +49 89 28638-2057
presse@bsb-muenchen.de

Contact Berlin State Library

Dr. Christoph Rauch
Head of the Oriental Department
Phone  +49 30 26643-5800
christoph.rauch@sbb.spk-berlin.de

Barbara Heindl
Head of Press and Public Relations
Phone  +49 30 26643-31900
presse@sbb.spk-berlin.de

About the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek
Founded in 1558 by Duke Albrecht V, the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, which holds 37,2 million media units, is the largest scholarly universal library in Germany and one of the most important heritage institutions worldwide. With over 3.3 million digitized works, the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek holds the largest digital data stock of all German libraries. The library offers a broad variety of services in the field of innovative digital use scenarios. In addition, it acts as the technical and editorial operator of the Bavarian state's cultural portal bavarikon and of the Literaturportal Bayern, as well as the technical operator of the official announcement platform of the Free State of Bavaria.

About the Berlin State Library
The Berlin State Library is one of Europe's largest and most capable and efficient libraries. It is part of the Foundation Prussian Cultural Heritage. Founded in 1661, the library is a centre of national and international literature supply, with modern knowledge resources with a focus on humanities and social sciences complementing the historical universal collection. Its employees at two locations speak more than 80 languages among them and use state-of-the-art technologies to further international exchange and free access to information.