Khurshidbanu Natavan’s "Flower Book" – album of illustrated verses inscribed on UNESCO’s Memory of the World International register

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The nomination of the “Flower Book" of Khurshidbanu Natavan – album of illustrated verses, submitted by Azerbaijan for the 2022-2023 cycle of the Memory of the World International Register, has been endorsed during the 216th session of the UNESCO Executive Board held in the city of in Paris, France.

Known as the “Flower Book”, it is the only official poetry album, arising to date. This 227-page album was compiled in 1886.

Khurshidbanu Natavan is one of the prominent representatives of 19th century Azerbaijani literature, (1832-1897), the last heir to the Karabakh Khanate, who made a significant contribution to the public life and cultural development of Azerbaijan. In the 19th century of Europe, female writers were forced to use male pseudonyms to publish their work, while Natavan chaired a literary council in a country in the Islamic East. Although women were given a high status in the family hierarchy in Azerbaijan, Natavan's personality was a phenomenon for Azerbaijan as a woman.

First launched in 1997, the Register is a list of documentary heritage of world significance. It aims to raise awareness among the public, memory institutions, governmental, non-governmental and other stakeholders of the need to create a supportive policy environment for the protection, promotion, access and utilization of documentary heritage as a whole.

Shahla Aghalarova
Special correspondent of AZERTAC
Paris