The city of Mashhad in Khorasan Razavi Province is now home to the world’s largest copy of the Qur’an, Mehr News reported. The Qur’an, which took seven years to complete, is the magnum opus of calligraphy master Aliakbar Esmaeili Ghuchani and his apprentices. The 250 cm x 175 cm book was unveiled on May 3. Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the unveiling ceremony, Esmaeili Ghuchani said that he started work on the project in 2008, and the gilding of the book took more than 30 people. “Everybody involved in the project did the work out of love. Nobody was paid.” According to the calligraphy master, Saudi Arabia had proposed to sponsor the work so they could register it under their own name, but Esmaeili Guchani refused. The 650-page Qur’an will soon go on display at the Ghuchan Anthropology Museum.
