His Highness Dr. Sheikh Sultan bin Mohammed Al Qasimi, Supreme Council Member and Ruler of Sharjah, toured on Wednesday the Johannes Museum of Gutenberg in the centre of the old city of Mainz and the Roman Ships Museum.

Dr. Sheikh Sultan was warmly received by the officials of the museum and those in charge of the town's cultural affairs, who disclosed to him a historic fact that Arabs and Muslims invented printing works nearly 500 years before Gutenberg.

Dr Sheikh Sultan was given a detailed briefing on the museum. Established in 1900, the museum is one of the oldest which monitors the history and the development of printing works throughout the history of mankind.

The Ruler took a close look at the Gutenberg printing machine dating back to 1440. He was briefed on the development of printing machines and printing works in the past five centuries.

At the museum, Dr Sheikh Sultan saw a number of printed items and printed archaeological pieces, including copies of the Holy Quran, the Bible, and a legacy of history, Islamic and Christian books.

He was told at the Gutenberg museum that Arabs and Muslims knew and practised printing works nearly 500 years before Gutenberg. The officials told him that the museum has a chapter of the Holy Quran, which was printed in 1000 AD by Muslims in Egypt.

They were followed by the Chinese in the 1100 AD, before Gutenberg printed a copy of the Holy Bible in 1452, the officials told Dr Sheikh Sultan.

Before leaving the museum, Dr. Sheikh Sultan signed the visitors book and commended the Germans for taking good care of such a valuable historic collections.

Meanwhile, Dr. Sheikh Sultan has called for the need for his country to effectively tap the good relations of friendship and cooperation with Germany to cover all areas of culture, science and economy.

Talking to the Emirates News Agency (WAM) at the end of his five-day official visit to Germany, Dr. Sheikh Sultan urged all the chambers of commerce, industry and agriculture in the UAE to exert efforts to build a strong bridge with Germany to link the UAE's economy with Germany's so as to benefit from the latter's high technological advancement in those fields.

Dr. Sheikh Sultan commended the Johannes University of Gutenberg for organising the first international conference on Middle East studies, which opens here in Mainz next week.

The conference is the biggest gathering by intellectuals and academicians to discuss Middle East issues, including scientific, cognitive, political, economic and cultural issues.

He said the conference is the first scientific, practical, logic and intellectual gathering to be held after the September 11 terrorist attack on the U.S., which, he said, "placed our nation in an embarrassing place among our friends, with whom we have good cultural and civilisational ties".

He urged officials of Arab universities, cultural centres and museums to interact with the German people, who, he said, crave to know more about the Arab and Islamic worlds.