Brief description: The Institute of manuscripts named after M. Fizuli is the biggest depository of ancient manuscripts, archaeographic documents, lithographic and old-printed books, personal archives of Azerbaijan cultural workers related to the 19-20th centuries and other materials. Kept here, documentary monuments in the Arabic, Persian and Turkish languages in general cover various fields of the eastern science right up to the Middle Ages. Nowadays, there are 7 research departments (restoration, Azerbaijan book and bibliography, literature, Persian literature, personal archives), storage department, exhibition hall and reading-room in the Institute. The most ancient manuscript of the collection is a fragment of Nisa sura from Koran of the 9th century written on the parchment. Materials demonstrated in the Institute are valuable sources on Philosophy, Astronomy, Culture, History, Literature and Art, Geography and Theology not only of the region, but also of the whole East. Works of the medieval great scientists and thinkers of the East, literary and art, philological, philosophic, historical, medical, astronomical, mathematical and religious works are presented in the Institute collection.