National treasures Prince Salman Bin Abdul Aziz, Governor of Riyadh Province, tours the Manuscript Heritage of Saudi Arabia Exhibition which he opened in Riyadh Sunday evening. (SPA photo) RIYADH: The Manuscript Heritage of Saudi Arabia Exhibition, which involves the collection of rare and valuable manuscripts, started in Riyadh Sunday evening. The exhibition contains 100 manuscripts from more than 60 libraries. Prince Salman Bin Abdul Aziz, the Governor of Riyadh Province, who is also Chairman of the Board of Directors of the King Abdul Aziz Foundation for Research and Archives, patronized the inauguration ceremony. The event is being organized by the Foundation with the support of Saudi Aramco. The ceremony was attended by Sheikh Abdul Aziz Bin Abdullah Aal Al-Sheikh, the Grand Mufti, President of the Council of Senior Scholars and General Presidency of Scholarly Research and Ifta. Also in attendance was Ali Bin Ibrahim Al-Naimi, Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, who is also Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Saudi Aramco Company; and Dr. Fahd Bin Abdullah Al-Sammari, the Foundation's Secretary General. Addressing the ceremony, the Kingdom's Grand Mufti expressed his thanks to Prince Salman for his continuing material and moral support for the foundation, which he said was playing a leading and important role in the collection and restoration of manuscripts. In his speech, Al-Naimi praised Prince Salman for his pioneering role in the preservation of the country's national heritage. He said the documents are the country's “cultural, intellectual and scientific wealth”. Prince Salman watched an introductory film on manuscripts and the Foundation's efforts to preserve the material.
