About the Story
In 2017, the museum acquired a Persian manuscript through a generous private donation. The manuscript, created with ink on paper (I. 9493), consists of 569 folios, including 460 painted miniatures, likely originating from early 19th-century Northern India. As part of the ongoing digitization efforts at the Museum for Islamic Art, the manuscript was digitally captured over several months in 2024 at the Digitalization Workshop of the Staatlichen Museen zu Berlin. Soon, the manuscript will be available in its entirety for scientific research in digital form, supporting further study. So how does this process really look like? Let's find out!
Additional Information about the Manuscript
This is a translated copy of the encyclopedic cosmography ʿAja’ib al-Makhluqat wa Ghara’ib al-Mawjudat ("The Wonders of Creation and the Marvels of Existence") by Abu Yahya Zakariya ibn Muhammad al-Qazwini (1203-1283 AD). Al-Qazwini, born in Qazvin—now part of Iran—later lived in Baghdad. He was a physician, astronomer, jurist, and geographer. His work explores both celestial and terrestrial realms, describing living beings and natural phenomena from each, combining the scientific knowledge of astronomy, medicine, and geography of the time with narratives, poetry, and embellishments. The work was intended not only for science but also for entertainment. Some illustrations in the text serve as descriptions of creatures, while others depict narrative scenes. Al-Qazwini’s text was widely popular and translated multiple times, with versions circulating in Arabic, Persian, and Turkish between the 13th and 20th centuries.
The Berlin manuscript folios measure 370 x 221 mm. The text is in black ink, with headings in red, and contains diagrams in both black and red ink. Vividly colored illustrations, sometimes with multiple images per page, feature bold colors and occasional gold accents.
How is digitalization implemented?
Upon its acquisition, the manuscript was in a heavily damaged condition. It underwent an intensive conservation and restoration process to stabilize it for digitization. This began with an assessment of its condition and the removal of its damaged, non-original binding. Key initial steps included numbering the pages and creating a layout plan to ensure that all folios can be correctly ordered in the future.
The manuscript exhibited various types of damage:
...tears, creases, waves, missing sections of various sizes, insect damage, numerous folds, and old paper repairs that were peeling away. Each page was stabilized according to its specific damage to prevent further deterioration. For example, missing areas were filled with cast paper, allowing safe handling of the pages without worsening the damage. The museum also aims to display these unique paintings in the manuscript in their original state, achieving a condition suitable for public presentation.
Storage, Transport, and Handling
In the Book Art Depot of the Museum for Islamic Art, the manuscript’s folios are stored as double-page spreads mounted on passe-partout trays. A total of twelve cartons are used, transported from the depot in the Archaeological Center to the Digitalization Workshop at the Kulturforum, with the conservator supervising the transfer. Each of the 569 folios, most of which are double-sided, was digitized on both sides.
At the Digitalization Workshop
The sheet is aligned horizontally on the device's document table; the side to be scanned is visible. Color wedges are placed to the left and right of the page. These wedges are printed with replicable, fixed color specifications or shades of gray. They serve as orientation and traceability of brightness, contrast and color.
The Process
The device used to capture the individual pages is a large-format line camera scanner. This produces an exact image of the original in the highest quality at a ratio of 1:1. The table with the original on it moves slowly past the camera head and light, with only the area that is currently being scanned being illuminated. The device scans the original line by line using LED lights. Unlike many conventional cameras, which often have area sensors installed, the resolution is applied line by line. This creates a high-resolution reproduction. At the same time, the LED lights must be cooled by several fans during operation to avoid excessive heating.
Technical Specifications:
Resolution: 1:1 / 400 dpi
Color Model: RGB
Color Depth: 24-bit
Color Profile: Eci-RGB_v2
File Formats: TIFF and JPEG
Image Editing and Final Arrangement
The scanned page is automatically transferred to a computer workstation for image processing. This post-processing includes isolating the image, making a slight tonal correction, and adding the copyright to the image header using batch processing.
Because the manuscript is now stored in double pages, which are written on both the verso and recto pages, the page sequence does not necessarily match the reproduction sequence in the digitization process. Finally, the pages must be put together in their correct order so that they can be digitally "flicked through" one after the other like a book. This process also takes many days of work!
What does verso and recto mean?
The terms verso and recto refer to the back and front of a sheet of paper, papyrus, parchment or even a banknote. In manuscript studies and archiving, manuscripts or documents with no page numbering are counted not by page but by sheet and are assigned verso or recto.
In the context of the Qazwini manuscript, it is also important to note that the manuscript is written in Persian. It is a Persian translation of the Arabic original. Since both Persian and Arabic are written from right to left, books in Persian or Arabic script are also turned from right to left. The book is therefore opened with the spine on the right and, according to European understanding, is turned through “from back to front”. This naturally also affects the assignment of verso and recto.
The Digitized Results
At the end of the digitization, the reproductions are finally available in high-resolution facsimile quality.
About the author
Franziska Kabelitz is a research museum assistant in training at the Museum of Islamic Art in Berlin. With thanks to Deniz Erduman-Çalış, Farwah Rizvi, Jutta Maria Schwed and Dietmar Katz.
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