Timbuktu Manuscripts Project

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Timbuktu Manuscripts Project is a cultural project which aims to preserve around 700,000 scholarly Islamic manuscripts in the city of Timbuktu, Mali. Some of the manuscripts date back to the 13th century and are currently held in 24 private libraries in and around Timbuktu ^[1].

It also aims to make access to public and private libraries around Timbuktu more widely available and easier for those in Malian society and to show that the conventional historical view of Africa as a purely "oral continent" is not correct. The project was begun in 2000 and is scheduled to end in 2007 ^[2].

Contents 1 Operations 2 Funding and partnership 3 See also 4 References and notes 5 External links

[edit] Operations

The project operates on 4 main areas ^[3]:

• Research and Higher Education,
• Physical conservation,
• Electronic document management,
• Tourism and Dissemination.

[edit] Funding and partnership

It is funded by the government of Luxembourg^[4] alongside with the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (NORAD), the Ford Foundation, the Norwegian Council for Higher Education's Programme for Development Research and Education (NUFU), and the United States Ambassador's Fund for Cultural Preservation.

In a partnership with the government of South Africa, this project is the first official cultural project of the New Partnership for Africa's Development.

[edit] See also

• Sankore University

[edit] References and notes

1. ^ Saving the Timbuktu Manuscripts
2. ^ Timetable
3. ^ Timbuktu Manuscripts Project Description
4. ^ UNESCO.org - Timbuktu Manuscripts Project Continues with Preservation Study Tours

[edit] External links

• Timbuktu Educational Foundation
• UNESCO.org - The Timbuktu Manuscripts
• Video of Exhibition of the Timbuktu Manuscripts Project at the American Cultural Centre in Bamako
• Presentation at the Ahmed Baba Institute of Timbuktu on cataloging of arabic manuscripts - by Mohamed Maghraoui, History Dept, Mohamed V University - Rabat, Morocco (Arabic)
• Timbuktu:A Refuge for Scholarly and Righteous Folk - an essay by John O. Hunwick (Arabic)