About the Documentation of Manuscripts

The manuscript documentation component of CultNat is a newly introduced activity that complements the pillar programs initiated at the foundation of the center. Began in Sept 2001 with a UNESCO fund, the project took upon itself the challenging task of documenting Arabic and Islamic manuscripts available in various institutions and private collections on the national and regional level. The joint vision is to compile an encyclopedic work of sciences and mathematics of Dar al-Islam from Samarkand to Casablanca

The pilot project conducted at Dar El Kotob should serve for further identification and future documentation projects. The first milestone was marked by the Arabic, English and French catalogs entitled "The Contributions of the Arab and Islamic Civilizations to Medical Sciences" and an interactive CD-ROM that covers seven manuscripts in their entirety. The documentation of astronomy and time reckoning manuscripts at al-Azhar University Library is second in line and is expected to be completed by September 2003 and to yield photography rich trilingual publications and multimedia products. The manuscripts project is currently exploring the potential of documenting microforms of manuscripts in special collections.