Head of the department of museum collections S.G. Pahomova and curator of the funds T.P. Ryzheva took part in the XXII All-Russian Scientific and Practical Conference “Faizkhanov Readings”, which was held in St. Petersburg from November 17 to 19, 2025 in the building of the Institute of Oriental Manuscripts of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Leading Islamic scholars, historians, theologians, art historians and Muslim religious figures attended the conference. On behalf of the Bolgar Museum-Reserve, S.G. Pahomova made a presentation on the topic “Collection of Arabic manuscripts” from the funds of the museum-reserve.
This year’s conference was dedicated to the 200th anniversary of the encyclopedist, ethnographer and linguist Gabdelkayum Nasiri, the 150th anniversary of the theologian Musa Bigiev, the 100th anniversary of the bibliographer Abrar Karimullin and the International Day of Islamic Art.
The spiritual leader of the Muslims of Russia, Chief Mufti Sheikh Ravil Gainutdin, sent greetings to the participants of the conference. Mikhail Piotrovsky, Director General of the State Hermitage Museum, who attended the plenary session, addressed the guests and participants of the event with a welcoming speech.
Within the framework of the conference, the exhibition “Wonderful light in Arabic script” was held where objects from the Bolgar Museum-Reserve were also presented. This exhibition became one of the eight exhibitions of the project “The Heritage of Islam in Russian Museums” authored by Honored Worker of Culture of the Republic of Tatarstan Alfiya Rakhmatullina.