For all, who are interested in the Orient

Pashkov’s Manor, a photo essay by Pavel Danilin, opens this issue. We also publish an interview with Vladimir Gnezdilov, Executive Director of the Russian State Library. The oldest building of the Russian State Library, a historical and architectural monument of Russia, goes into service after four years of restoration works.

Writings

Dmitriy Sevruk. Devotees of the Peacock Angel. The author gives an account of the closed religious community of the Yazidi, their origin, beliefs, rites, and traditions. We publish translations of Yazidi holy texts, the Book of Illumination and the Black Book.

Kazan Album

In his interview, Professor Myakzyum Salakhov, Rector of the Kazan State University, speaks about the 200th anniversary of the Chair of Oriental Letters.

Ramil Valeyev. The Origins of Oriental Studies in Kazan. When, 200 years ago, Oriental lan­guage courses had been introduced at the Kazan University, this marked the start of sys­tematic and integrated education in Oriental studies in Russia.

Alfiya Yusupova. Dictionaries Compiled by Russian Orthodox Missionaries. The mission­aries of the Russian Orthodox Church had played an important role in the study of lan­guages, folklore, and ethnography of Turkic peoples of Russia.

Alsu Arlsanova. Keys to the Miracles. The Kazan University holds an important collection of Persian manuscripts, dated from 13th to 19th century. The article presents some of these treasures to the reader.

Jamil Zainullin. Chernyshevskiy, a Seminary Student, and Arabic Calligraphy. The author opens the little-known pages in the biography of Nikolay Chernyshevskiy (1828-1889), Russian writer and thinker. While studying at the Seminary, he has succeeded in studying the Oriental languages.

The Land of the Orient

Boris Vinogradov. Lucky Coin from the Ancient Town. The author’s fascination with Oriental miniature gradually developed into individual creative work. «Today, I never stop experimenting,» writes the artist while pre­senting his works in our magazine.

Andrey Strelkov. In the Caves of Tibetan Yogi. The author describes his visits to the two caves of the famous Tibetan hermits of the past. The life of a yogi in a cave is regulated by certain rules and is precisely ordered.

Olga Al Kattan. Beirut. The City of the Living. An emotional story of the capital of Lebanon: «This city is wound with narrow streets and senescent quarters, it shines with glassy cleanness of shop windows, it astounds you with orthodox rules of Islamic community, and it carouses with Western chic, rattling night and day with the sounds of life.»

Olga Khizhnyak. The Happy Land of Amitabha Buddha. The State Museum of the History of Religion in Saint Petersburg holds a three-dimensional model of Sukhvati, the abode of Amitabha Buddha. It is possible to translate the Sanskrit name of this exhibit as the «Happy Land» . The article interprets this enchanting image.

Asya Petrichenko. Patterns and Silhouettes from a Sheet of Paper. Artistic paper cutting is a traditional art of China, which dates back to the 3rd-4th century. The author tells about this amazingly diverse and attractive art.

Vitaliy Larichev. Holy Treatise Made of Stone. For thirty years, the archaeologists from Novosibirsk have been studying the valley of the Bely Iyus River in Khakassia. They discov­ered there a structure, which they called «Temple of Creation» . The surfaces of this rock chamber are covered with images that depict the birth of the Universe.

Natalia Chekurova. Bhutan’s Mature Adolescence. Notes of the journey to the Kingdom of Bhutan, where formidable monas­teries soar above the river bights, where people consider submission to social values as the national merit, and where men wear brighter and more colourful clothes than women.

Mikhail Rodnov. The Heritage Left by Our Ancestors, The ties between Russians and Bashkirs go back to the archaic times of interaction between Slavic and Turkic peo­ples. Perception of multinational nature of the world as the normal condition of the society is the most important heritage left by our ancestors.

Viktor Pogadaev. «I Want to be Engaged to a Keris» . Keris is a traditional weapon of many peoples in the Malay world. The people in Malaysia and Indonesia believe that keris bears some mystical properties.

Rustam Mirzaev. Gold on Velvet. In recent years, the art of gold embroidery is being revived in Uzbekistan. The modern works by embroiderers from Bukhara still keep their unique character, old methods and patterns. A Shining Project Indeed. The interview with

Vladimir Prusakov, Director of the Moscow-based WT company, which presented to the public its unique project, «The Golden Quran» .

The traditional «Orientnet» column features a list of Web sites that contain various materials related to tigers.