Islamic Calligraphy in the Special Collections of the Romanian Academy Library in Cluj-Napoca / La calligraphie islamique dans les collections speciales de la Bibliotheque de l’Academie Roumaine de Cluj-Napoca

Abstract

Minor art in the West, calligraphy was revered in the Islamic world, developing in amazingly diverse and original ways and revealing the aspiration to devise a radically non-mimetic visual construction to exalt and spread the Divine Word in a culture that frowns on making an image of the divine and its creation. Paper and the emergence of bureaucratic elite prompted the development of sophisticated calligraphic styles with six standardized cursive scripts, the nature of the text or the prospective readers determining the type of writing employed for literary, religious, or administrative works. The Islamic manuscripts and books in the Romanian Academy Library of Cluj-Napoca, the legacy of the celebrated scholar Timotei Cipariu, illustrate a wide repertoire of styles, once again demonstrating the inherent potential of Islamic calligraphy for developing a variety of versatile ornamental forms, while remaining true to its key role to communicate facts and express thoughts and feelings.