debts, official correspondence of the Armenian ecclesiastical figures. etc. The noteworthy part of the collection of the Oriental manuscripts kept at the National Centre of Manuscripts are Persian and Turkish (Ottoman) documents, among them Shahs’ pirmans (orders), records, letters, purchase documents, etc. These documents illustrate political, social and economic life of Georgia and other countries in Caucasus; they also represent confrontation of Russia and Persia in the Caucasus region. These documents are also important for their ornamentation – the Persian handwritten documents are decorated in accordance with the best traditions of the Persian illuminated manuscripts. Private archival funds The archival funds of the National Centre of Manuscripts are brought together archives of the Georgian and foreign scientists, writers, poets, painters, political, public and military figures, emigrant and church personalities, also archives of the Georgian Historical-Ethnographic Society and chancellery of the Synod. In whole 179 private archives are kept at the depositories of the National Centre of Manuscripts, out of them 111 funds have been processed and the remaining 68 are being processed. Of the material preserved in the archival funds special mention should be made of the papyrus collection that belonged to the Georgian papyrologist Grigol Tsereteli, containing 150 papyri dating from the 2nd century B.C. – 15th century A.D. Of no less interest is the material preserved in the other archival funds: original foreign-language documents connected with the life and activities of the Georgian and foreign public figures of the 19th-20th centuries in Georgian, Latin, French, English, Italian, Russian, Azeri, Armenian and other foreign languages; the richest epistolary legacy; numerous folkloristic records; unique photographs, invaluable material reflective of the new and most recent history of the South Caucasus in the field of politics, economy, church life, journalism, theatre, music and so on. References External links Official site Educational institutions established in 1958 Education in Tbilisi History institutes Museums in Tbilisi Research institutes in Georgia (country) 1958 establishments in the Soviet Union Research institutes in the Soviet Union