On 18 December 2020, in the exhibition area of the Museum of Bulgarian Civilization a staff member of Bolgar Museum-Reserve Paramonycheva T. N. opened an exhibit “Arabic ligature in the history of Volga Bulgaria”.
Adoption of Islam by Volga Bulgaria was of great importance. A strong push was given to the development of education, literature and science. Originally, Bulgars used runic script. With adoption of Islam, they moved to the writing based on the Arabic alphabet.
Over time, Arabic script became widespread. Using it people made inscriptions on numerous monuments, jewelry and household items. Many examples of these inscriptions are real calligraphy masterpieces. Most often, people wrote on birch bark and tablets covered with a layer of wax. A writing instrument was a bone stylus. Then paper began to be used. It was brought from Samarkand. Ink and feathers were used to write on it.
Proficiency in the Arabic language allowed access to the works of eminent scholars and poets of East of that time. It contributed to the development of different sciences and literature in Volga Bulgaria.
The exhibition included material from the funds of Bolgar Museum-Reserve: archaeological finds with Arabic ligature (ceramic and copper vessels, jewelry and coins), copies of manuscripts and print publications of XIX-XX centuries and shamails – a part of Muslim culture where sayings from Koran are written with Arabic ligature. There are examples of Arabic script or the words from Koran on all items.
The exhibition opened at 14:00 in an offline mode. It will last until 11 February 2021.

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