The delicate task of restoring one of the world’s oldest libraries

by LEILA FADEL

The curator of the Qarawiyyin Library, Abdelfattah Bougchouf, opens an original version of a famous work, Muqaddimah, written by historian Ibn Khaldun in the 14th century. The library in Fez is one of the world’s oldest working libraries, dating to the 10th century when it was founded by a pioneering woman. The library is set to reopen in May following a renovation. PHOTO/Samia Errazouki/AP

The copper craft makers in Seffarin Square in the historic district of Fez, Morocco, bang out designs on platters and shape copper pots to a rhythm.

Called the medina, neighborhood streets lined with domes and archways take you back through the history of the dynasties and occupiers that ruled Morocco from the 9th century on. At the center of the square is the Qarawiyyin Library, founded more than a millennium ago.

We’ve heard much recently about the destruction of grand historical sites in places like Syria and Iraq, where war and ISIS wreak havoc on the present and the past. But this library has been lovingly restored to protect ancient manuscripts by some of the greatest Islamic thinkers.

It’s part of what the United Nations calls the oldest operating educational institute in the world. The complex started as a mosque in the 9th century and expanded to include a university and library in the 10th century. It’s defined by beautiful courtyards centered around fountains.

Inside the library are ornately carved wooden window frames and archways, colorful ceramic tile designs on the floors and elegant Arabic calligraphy engraved in the walls. The high ceilings in the reading room are adorned with gold chandeliers.

“There is a big restoration because there was a need for the building and the manuscripts to be preserved,” said Abdullah al-Henda, part of the restoration team that’s been working on the restoration since 2012. “There were problems of infiltration, of sewage, degradation of walls, some cracks in different places in the library.”

The library holds some 4,000 manuscripts: Qurans that date back to the 9th century, the earliest collection of Islamic hadiths — the words and actions of Islam’s prophet Mohammed — and an original copy of the great Muslim thinker and historian Ibn Khaldun’s Muqaddimah.

And Henda points out the library connected the east and the west.

“It was a bridge of knowledge of researchers, between Africa and between the Middle East and Europe,” he said.

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