© Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Museum für Islamische Kunst / Franziska Kabelitz, 2024

The Cosmography of al-Qazwini

Digitization of a Manuscript at the Museum for Islamic Art

About the Story

In 2017, through a generous private donation, the museum acquired a manuscript written in Persian. 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 Museum for Islamic Art's ongoing digitization efforts, the manuscript was digitally captured over several months in 2024 at the digitalization workshop of the Berlin State Museums. Soon, the manuscript will be available in its entirety for scientific research in digital form, supporting further study.

So what does this process really look like? Let's find out!

The Wonders of Creation and the Marvels of Existence

The manuscript is a translated version 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, was born in Qazvin—now part of Iran, and 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 present in each, combining the scientific knowledge of astronomy, medicine, and geography of the time with poetry, tales, and narrative 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 written 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 accents in gold.

Impressions from the Manuscript. © Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Museum für Islamische Kunst/ Foto: Franziska Kabelitz

How is digitalization implemented?

Upon its acquisition, the manuscript was in a heavily damaged condition. It underwent an intensive conservation and restoration process for stabilization. This was also imperative for the subsequent digitalization initiative. The process began with a condition assessment and the removal of the manuscript’s damaged, non-original binding. Key initial steps included numbering the pages and creating a layout plan to ensure that all folios can be correctly put in to sequence in the future.

The manuscript exhibited various types of damage:

...tears, creases, waves, missing sections of various sizes, insect damage, numerous folds, and former instances of paper restoration 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. A condition suitable for public presentation was thus achieved.

This corner of the leaf has been carefully underlaid with cast paper. © Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Museum für Islamische Kunst/ Foto: Franziska Kabelitz

Storage, Transport, and Handling

In the book arts depot of the Museum for Islamic Art, the manuscript’s folios are stored as double-page spreads mounted on passepartout trays. Supervised by the conservator in charge of paper, a total of twelve cartons are transported from the depot in the Archaeological Center to the digitalization workshop at the Kulturforum. Both sides of each of the 569 folios was digitized; most of them have been written and sometimes painted on both the front and back.

The manuscript in bound condition at the time of donation. © Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Museum für Islamische Kunst, photo: Julia Gonnella
A double page is transported to the scanning table. © Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Museum für Islamische Kunst/ Foto: Franziska Kabelitz
Boxes in which the pages are kept in the museum. © Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Museum für Islamische Kunst/ Foto: Franziska Kabelitz

At the Digitalization Workshop

The sheet is aligned horizontally on the device's 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.

Aligned page ready for scanning. © Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Museum für Islamische Kunst/ Foto: Franziska Kabelitz
Aligning the page in preparation for scanning. © Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Museum für Islamische Kunst/ Foto: Franziska Kabelitz

The Process

The device used to capture the individual pages is a large-format line camera scanner. This produces an exact reproduction of the original in the highest quality at a ratio of 1:1. The table on which the original has been placed moves slowly past the camera head and light. At any moment, only the area that is being scanned is illuminated. The device scans the original line by line using LED lights. Unlike many conventional cameras, which often contain area sensors, 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 overheating.


Technical Specifications:

Resolution: 1:1 / 400 dpi

Color Model: RGB

Color Depth: 24-bit

Color Profile: Eci-RGB_v2

File Formats: TIFF and JPEG

The large-format camera scanner in the digitization workshop of the Berlin State Museums. © Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Museum für Islamische Kunst/ Foto: Franziska Kabelitz

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 include text on both the verso and recto sides, the page sequence does not necessarily match the reproduction sequence of 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!

Post-processing on the computer screen in the digitization workshop. © Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Museum für Islamische Kunst/ Foto: Franziska Kabelitz

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 important to note that the manuscript is written in Persian, translated and interpreted from the Arabic original version. Since both Persian and Arabic are written from right to left, book pages in Persian or Arabic script are also turned from right to left. The Qazwini manuscript 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.

Pictogram

The Digitized Results

At the end of the digitization process, the reproductions are finally available in high-resolution facsimile quality.


















About the author

Franziska Kabelitz serves as assistant curator at the Museum for Islamic Art in Berlin. With thanks to Deniz Erduman-Çalış, Farwah Rizvi, Nikola Aehle and Dietmar Katz. A special word of thanks is owed to Jutta Maria Schwed, who supplemented and completed the information regarding the restoration process.

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