A Russian billionaire is funding an Israeli project to digitize a major collection of Jewish manuscripts seized by the Soviets 100 years ago.

Israel�s National Library and the Russian State Library on Tuesday announced an agreement to digitize the Gunzburg collection�s rare manuscripts, a project enabled by an unspecified �generous donation� from Ziyavudin Magomedov�s Peri Foundation.

The 49-year-old tycoon is Russia�s 58th-wealthiest person, with an estimated worth of $1.5 billion, according to Forbes. His foundation has financed heritage projects across Russia, particularly in his native Dagestan, a predominantly Muslim republic.

The Gunzburg collection contains around 2,000 Jewish manuscripts and thousands of printed volumes dating back centuries. It was sold to the forerunner of Israel�s national library in 1917, but Russian authorities seized it before it left the country.

(AP)