Rescuing the Islamic Heritage of North-Eastern Kazakhstan (EAP1280)

Aims and objectives

The project aims to digitize and store a unique collection of Islamic books and manuscripts which survived the Soviet period in the city of Semey (Semipalatinsk), Kazakhstan. Semey was founded as a Russian fort settlement in the 18th century but quickly became an important urban centre with Islamic religious and educational institutions thanks to the interactions between the nomadic peoples of the steppe and the Muslim merchants, entrepreneurs, clergy and scholars from the Russian Empire. The sufi treatises, Islamic textbooks, and other material found in this collection provide us a glimpse into the intellectual background of this Muslim urban culture.