From 19 to 26 September, 2010, Dr S.A.Frantsouzoff visited Bucharest to discuss the joint project of the preparation of a new critical edition of the travel diary written by the Antiochean Patriarch Makarios III al-Za'im during his journey through some Eastern European countries such as the Romanian Principalities, the Cossaks' land and Russia in mid-17th century. The project was approved and supported by the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Romanian Academy. Dr Ioana Feodorov, a researcher at the Institute for South-East European Studies, Bucharest, coordinates the Romanian part of the project.

Moreover, Dr S.A.Frantsouzoff took part in the international symposium Le Livre. La Roumanie. L’Europe, held from 20 to 23 September at the InterContinental Hotel, at the very center of Bucharest, organized by the Biblioteca Metropolitana Bucuresti, Romanian Academy, Bucharest University and city government of the Romanian capital. French, English and Romanian were working languages of the symposium. Paper by Dr S.A.Frantsouzoff, L’édition du livre arabe des Macchabées dans les Polyglottes de Paris et de Londres et la Bible manuscrite arabe de St. Pétersbourg, was delivered on September 21, at the Panel 2B, L’histoire des bibliothèques. At the same panel Dr Stoyanka Kenderova, Sofia, a disciple of Dr O.G.Bolshakov, the IOM, who defended her PhD Dissertation in Leningrad, in 1986, presented her paper, La bibliothèque de la famille de Pasban-Zade à Vidin (30 ans après la mort d’Osman Pazvantoglu). The IOM was also represented by Dr I.V.Kulganek who presented the paper entitled The Holy Writ” in Mongolian (about A.M. Posdneev’s translations) on September 21, at the panel 3B, Reconfiguration du divin et de la divinité. For the participants of the symposium the cultural program was organized including city excursions and visit to the Department of Manuscripts of the Romanian Academy Library, the Ethnographic Museum, etc.

On September 21, all the Russian participants, five from Moscow and five from St Petersburg, were accepted by the Russian Ambassador Alexander A. Churilin.

On September 24, at the Institute for South-East European Studies, Dr S.A.Frantsouzoff delivered a lecture on the collection of Dimitrius Kantemir kept at the IOM's Archives of the Orientalists, and on September 23 and 25 he was allowed to work with Arabiс, ncluding Christian Arabic, mss and old printed books kept at the Romanian Academy Library.

PHOTOS

Dr S.A.Frantsouzoff delivers his paper at the symposium 'Le Livre. La Roumanie. L’Europe'; to the right — chairman, Dr Geoffry Roper, London, library consultant and expert in old printed Arabic books

InterContinental Hotel, Bulvardul N. Balcescu, where the symposim was held

Participants of the symposium from Moscow: Dr Vera G. Chentsova, the Institute of General History, RAS, expert in Mediaeval Greek documents, and Dr Konstantin A. Panchenko, Moscow State University, leading Russian expert in the history of Christian Arans

Dr S.A.Frantsouzoff

The Stavropoleos Monastery, an Orthodox convent, located at the historic center of Bucharest, between Str. Stavropoleos & Str. Postei: the general view

A fresco decorating one of the archs of the main temple of the monastery

The altar of the temple

The inner yard of the monastery

One of the nuns in the inner yard of the monastery

At the museum of the monastery two Ethiopean magical scrolls are kept; Dr S.A.Frantsouzoff with one of them

At the concluding banquet organized for the participants of the symposium: Dr Irina V. Kulganek, IOM (left), and Dr Albina Kh. Girfanova, St Petersburg State University (right)

At the concluding banquet: Dr Stoyanka Kenderova, Sofia, leading Bulgarian expert in Arabic mss, and Dr Geoffry Roper

At the concluding banquet:Dr S.Frantsouzoff, Dr S.Kenderova, Dr G.Roper

At the concluding banquet: Dr Alexander A. Stolyarov, the Institute of Oriental Studies, Moscow, an Indologist

At the concluding banquet: Prof Nikolae Tanashoka, Head of the Institute for South-East European Studies and, behind him, Dr V.G.Chentsova and Dr K.A.Panchenko

At the concluding banquet: Dr Ioana Feodorov, the Institute for South-East European Studies and, behind him, Dr V.G.Chentsova and Dr K.A.Panchenko

Text and photos supplied by S.Frantsouzoff