Former President Barbara Brown Zikmund Donates Framed Qur'an Manuscripts

Former Hartford Seminary President Barbara Brown Zikmund visited the Seminary on Monday, February 25 to donate a framed set of photographs of the Qur'an.

When Zimundwas president of the Seminary in the 1990s, Professor Wilhelm Bijlefeld, former director of the Macdonald Center for the Study of Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations, took photos of manuscripts held by the Seminary. In 1994, the Seminary published a full color book, The Illuminated Manuscripts of Hartford Seminary, which reproduced photos and information about Armenian and Qur'anic manuscripts.

Zikmund had four photos of Qur'anic manuscripts framed. On Monday, she presented this artwork to the Seminary, to hang in the Macdonald Center, which is located in the Martin and Aviva Budd Interfaith Building on the Seminary campus.

The gift depicts beautiful treasures from the Seminary archives and is framed in a way that highlights the beauty of Islamic art.

Zikmund made the presentation of the gift at a lunch attended by Uriah Kim, Academic Dean and Associate Professor of Hebrew Bible, left, and Timur Yuskaev, Assistant Professor of Contemporary Islam and director of the Islamic Chaplaincy Program, right.

Details of the gift-

Framed photographs of Qur'anic manuscripts, held by Hartford Seminary

All are found in The Illuminated Manuscripts of Hartford Seminary: The Art of Christian-Muslim Relations published in 1994

Upper right p. 65

Surat al-Fathah 'The Opening' 1151/1738-9

Upper left p. 69

Surat al-Fathah 'The Opening' 1182/1768-9

Lower right p. 11

Surat al-Fathah 'The Opening' 1238/1823-4

Lower left p. 68

Surat al-Fathah 'The Opening' 1086/1675-6