At a ceremony held today via video link, a project of the Magtymguly Institute of Language, Literature and National Manuscripts of the Academy of Sciences of Turkmenistan has been announced the winner of the U.S. Department of State’s Ambassadors Fund for Cultural Preservation (AFCP) Program competition and the Institute has been awarded the AFCP grant.

During the event also attended by representatives of the Academy of Sciences and the Ministry of Culture, its participants highlighted that stepping up international cooperation in the cultural-humanitarian field, in particular with the United States of America, is one of the top priorities of President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov’s state policy.

The grant money will be used to fund the restoration of medieval handwritten and old printed Turkmen books, as well as to set up a storage server to store photocopies of the books. Handwritten and printed books are the national heritage and wealth, and one of the important parts of the nation’s historical memory.

The restoration efforts will seek to preserve handwritten and old printed book collections and to make these unique editions more accessible to a wide readership. The electronic library will help to foster collaboration among scientists and specialists in various areas.

The project envisages the restoration and conservation of 80 hand-penned and old printed books over a four-year period. Notably, the AFCP grants awarded in 2007 and 2008 were used to fund the restoration of 100-plus time-worn books.

In the future, along with the manuscripts, the Institute plans to conserve and restore collections of lithographs employing modern scientific methods. The institution also intends to establish cooperation with specialists of the Library of Congress for the exchange of experience.