A mysterious house in Najaf with 60 million historical documents and photos
An official tells to Supreme Leader's representative in Hajj and Pilgrimage affairs and head of the Iranian pilgrims Hojjat al-Islam Seyed Abdolfattah Navvab, head of the Hajj and Pilgrimage organization Alireza Bayat and and their accompanying delegation, that here is the Najaf Ashraf Documentation Center
According to the Hajj Information base, it is a small and old house, but from the moment you enter, every corner and side of it attracts attention, forcing you to look every inch of this small building so you don't miss anything.
Very old photos of very great scholars, many of whom we had only heard of and had no pictures of; and despite all the media that have flourished over the past decades, many of them have not been seen in the media.
Head of the institute says that this has been going on secretly for almost 30 years, before the fall of Saddam. He explains that during Saddam's time, anyone who took steps to collect documents related to scholars and religious institutions in Iraq was arrested or eliminated, and the same fate of "elimination" included many documents.
He continues that this institution was publicly established after the fall of Saddam in the years after 2010, and is now the center for storing 60 million official documents related to the history of religion institution and Marja’ (Principles of Islamic jurisprudence) in Iraq and even Iran, as well as photographs and images of very famous and influential scholars.
Head of the institute says that 22,000 photographs of scholars and documents from the Ottoman period are also kept in the institute.
Hojjat al-Islam Seyed Abdolfattah Navvab and the accompanying delegation listen very carefully to the words of the the institution official and of course, Supreme Leader’s representative in Hajj and Pilgrimage affairs, with great appreciation for the establishment of such an institution, offers some tips about preserving the artifacts that were also interesting for the staff of this institution.
He emphasized that special equipment must be used to display such precious historical artifacts, and that the work should not be done in such a way that these images and documents are destroyed due to the people visit.
Hojjat al-Islam Navvab introduced some people who have done similar work in other countries or areas to the officials of this institute so that through a connection, the work of the institute can progress in a better way.
