PROJECTS OF THE IUA

53. Katalogisierung der orientalischen Handschriften in Deutschland

The Katalogisierung der orientalischen Handschriften in Deutschland (KOHD) is a project of the Göttingen Academy of Sciences and Humanities. It started in 1957 under the patronage of the Deutsche Morgenländische Gesellschaft and until 1989, and was financed by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft. The KOHD  is now directed by Mr. Hartmut Ortwin-Feistel, director of the Orient-Abteilung of the  Staatsbibliothek in Berlin, and financed at the moment by the German Federal Government and by the Bundesländer. A Comitee elected by the Academy of Göttingen is reponsible for  the progress of the project and meets annually in Berlin.

The KOHD edits catalogs as well as additional volumes of  all the oriental manuscripts kept  in the German libraries and collections.

Until 2004 the project has published 45 catalogs and 36 supplementary publications. The matters of the catalogs goes from North and East Africa to Japan and covers the period from third millenary BC untill today.

All the cultures and oriental linguistical regions are represented : the Ancient Egypt's culture and languages, Hebrew, Islam (manuscripts in Arab, Kurd, Persian, Turk, etc.), oriental christianism (manuscripts in Armenian, Ethiopian, Syriac, etc.), India, Nepal, Burma, Thaïland, Tibet, China, Mongolia, Indonesia and different civilizations of ancient Indochina (manuscripts in Cambodgian, Laotian languages, etc.)

Besides information about the languages, religions and history of ancient and modern oriental countries,  the KOHD volumes give precious datas concerning geography, medecine as well as natural and technical sciences of African and Asian cultures.

The project was adopted by the UAI in 1996 as a Category C project.

Director : Hartmut-Ortwin Feistel 1996-

Web site : www.sbb.spk-berlin.de/kohd/