Istanbul Municipality buys antique Quran copies, manuscripts for 1.7 mln liras at UK auction

The Istanbul Municipality paid 1.7 million liras for nine antique Quran copies and manuscripts that it bought earlier this week at a London auction, a columnist wrote on April 2.

Friday April 02 2021 11:29 am

Duvar English

The Istanbul Municipality paid 1.7 million liras for antique Quran copies and manuscripts that it bought at a U.K. auction, Hürriyet columnist İhsan Yılmaz wrote on April 2.

Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu had announced on March 31 that the municipality bought nine Quran copies and manuscripts at the Sotheby's auction house in London.

Bugünkü müzayedede, paha biçilmez 9 Kur'an-ı Kerim ve elyazmaları satın aldık.

Zuhruf Suresi'nin yeraldığı 1200 yıllık
Maide Suresi'nin yeraldığı 1100 yıllık
5 surenin yeraldığı 700 yıllık Kur'an-ı Kerim sayfaları
Mesnevi ve Bahaeddin Veled'in İbtidâ-Nâme’si artık İstanbul'un. pic.twitter.com/9nkBOEh5sQ
— Ekrem İmamoğlu (@ekrem_imamoglu) March 31, 2021

The purchase price of the pieces had not been released but the U.K. auction house had put the price of one of the works as 37,800 pounds (430,000 liras), whereas the other two each as 32,760 pounds (376,000 liras). Therefore, the three pieces had a price of 1.2 million in total, excluding commission and additional charges.

Istanbul Municipality's Assistant Secretary-General Mahir Polat said that they had brought a very valuable collection to the land it belongs to. Polat stated that the collection will be displayed at the Saraçhane Exhibition Hall and then at the Feshane Tasavvuf Museum, which is currently under construction.