The Iranian embassy in a statement released on Sunday announced that the issue of registering the heritage works in UNESCO has been misunderstood in mass media in an inappropriate manner.
Some people erroneously imagine that registering ‘Masnavi Manavi’ in UNESCO's cultural, national or spiritual heritage list is the same as recording it in the Memory of the World Register lists, the statement read.
The origin of Memory of the World Register lists is not an international convention that should be endorsed by countries' parliaments, but it is a program that was initiated in 1992.
In 1992, UNESCO established the Memory of the World Program. Impetus came originally from a growing awareness of the parlous state of preservation of, and access to, documentary heritage in various parts of the world. War and social upheaval, as well as severe lack of resources, have worsened problems which have existed for centuries.
Significant collections worldwide have suffered a variety of fates. Looting and dispersal, illegal trading, destruction, inadequate housing and funding have all played a part. Much as vanished forever; much is endangered.
As per the statement, at present two manuscripts of Masnavi Manavi have been proposed to be registered in the Memory of the World Register lists. In this case, the pivotal issue is the place of keeping these valuable works, not the nationality of Mawlana Jalal-ud-din Rumi or the topics of the Masnavi Manavi.
In 2006, the Iranian, Afghan and Turkish envoys introduced the official medal of Mawlana Jalal-ud-din Rumi in UNESCO, the statement concluded.
Masnavi is a series of six books of poetry that together number around 25,000 verses or 50,000 lines. It is a spiritual work that teaches how to reach true love with God.
Mawlana began dictating the first book around the age of 54 in the year 1258 and continued composing verses until his death in 1273.
Iran has already registered six valuable documentary heritages at UNESCO Memory of the World Register lists, the most recent of which was a collection of selected maps of Iran in the Qajar Era recommended for inclusion in the Memory of the World Register in 2013.
A collection of Nezami’s Panj Ganj (Persian for Five Treasures) and “Bayasanghori Shâhnâmeh” (Prince Bayasanghor’s Epic of Kings) are also included in UNESCO Memory of the World Register lists.
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