Hakim Nasir Khusraw Balkhi Cultural Center
The Hakim Nasir Khusraw Balkhi Cultural Center (Persian/Dari: کانون فرهنگی حکیم ناصر خسرو بلخی) is a cultural institution in Kabul, Afghanistan. It was established in 1988 and is named after Nasir Khusraw, the 11th-century Persian poet, philosopher and traveller.
Sources have described the center's activities as including a library, publishing work, cultural programmes and the preservation of Islamic calligraphy. The center has also housed a large handwritten Quran produced by Afghan calligrapher Mohammed Sabeer Khedri Hussani and nine student apprentices.
History
The Hakim Nasir Khusraw Balkhi Cultural Center was established in Kabul in 1988 with the support of Sayed Mansoor Naderi. Writing in the Persian literary magazine Bukhara, Latif Pedram described the center as a cultural institution connected with the transfer of thousands of books to Afghanistan.
CBS News reported in 2012 that the center had once included a library, a medical center and schools for traditional Afghan crafts. The report stated that much of the center was damaged during the Afghan civil war in the 1990s, and that efforts were later made to revive it after the fall of the Taliban government in 2001.
Library and publications
The center has been associated with library and publishing activities. Peraw Naderi, an Afghan poet and writer, wrote that the center's library contained more than 50,000 books in fields including science, philosophy, art, literature and religious studies. According to Naderi, after fighting began in Kabul in 1992, the center and its library were moved to Pul-e Khomri.
The Afghanistan Analysts Network, in a report on public libraries in Kabul, also referred to the Nasir Khusraw library. The report stated that the library had been founded by Sayed Mansoor Naderi and apparently held about 55,000 titles in 1998. It added that the library was originally based in Kabul, was moved to Baghlan after the arrival of the Taliban, and was reopened in Kabul in 2012.
In 2024, Kabul Education University reported that 21 students from its Faculty of Educational and Professional Sciences visited the Nasir Khusraw Balkhi Library in Kabul's fourth district as part of an educational visit. According to the university, the students viewed the large handwritten Quran, 20 translated Qurans, thousands of other books and paintings held at the library.
The Afghanistan Centre at Kabul University's AfghanData catalogue lists the center, together with the Afghanistan Intellectuals Front, as publisher of Payam-e Roshanfekr, a Persian-language periodical described as the publication organ of the Afghanistan Intellectuals Front. The catalogue describes the item as a newspaper published in Kabul and issued every fifteen days.
Handwritten Quran
The center has housed a large handwritten Quran in Kabul. CBS News reported in January 2012 that the work was produced by Afghan calligrapher Mohammed Sabeer Khedri Hussani and nine student apprentices over five years. According to the report, the Quran has 218 pages and weighs 1,102 pounds.
The Christian Science Monitor reported in 2012 that the Quran weighed about 1,100 pounds and was displayed in a viewing area designed for it at the center.
Khaama Press reported that the inauguration ceremony for the Quran was held in Kabul in January 2012 and was attended by Afghan officials, religious figures, scholars and members of the public. The report gave the dimensions of each page as 228 cm by 155 cm.
In 2016, Khaama Press and Geo News reported that Afghan president Ashraf Ghani visited the Quran at the center.
Hakim Nasir Khusraw Balkhi Square
In October 2011, Pajhwok Afghan News reported that an intersection in Kabul's fourth district had been named after Hakim Nasir Khusraw Balkhi. According to the report, a monument at the square was to be built by the Hakim Nasir Khusraw Balkhi Cultural Center at a cost of US$78,000.
Khaama Press reported in 2024 that the square, formerly known as Taimani Square, had been restored and reopened after a six-month restoration project.
Security incident
In 2014, Ava Press reported that a suicide attacker detonated explosives near the center in the Sar Sabzi area of Kabul. The report said officials of the center believed the attack was intended to damage the archive of the handwritten Quran kept there.
See also
- Nasir Khusraw
- Culture of Afghanistan
- Persian literature
- Islamic calligraphy
- Sayed Mansur Naderi