The Persian Manuscripts illustrated with Miniatures in the Cairo National Library

Abstract

Egypt is one of the most interesting countries in the world with its valuable historical monuments and ancient civilization. Egypt was conquered by the Ottoman Empire in 1517. The monuments in Cairo built in the Ottoman Turkish style are the signs of influence of the Turkish art. The Ottoman cultural influence had not only been seen in architecture, but also in other fields of art. There are a lot of illustrated manuscripts prepared during the Ottoman period in Egyptian Libraries. The Cairo National Library known as Dâr al-Qutub al-Kavmiyyah is certainly the richest library with its manuscripts. In the library, there can be found many illustrated manuscript in Arabic, Turkish and Persian. The Persian illustrated manuscripts with seventy books form the largest group. The illustrations in these manuscripts are mostly on the literary subjects and they reflect the styles of Persian and IndianMongol painting art.