Great Iraqi efforts to restore 47 thousand manuscripts and books, including precious manuscripts on Ashura and Imam Hussein
Today, Monday, the Iraqi Manuscripts House announced its new project to restore thousands of archaeological and heritage books and manuscripts, some of which are more than 1,250 years old in order to digitally document and preserve it.
The Director General of the Manuscript House, Dr. Ahmed Al-Alyawi, said in a press statement followed by Shia Waves News Agency: “An Iraqi team of experts is making great efforts to restore and preserve 47 thousand archaeological and heritage books and manuscripts, in order to document and preserve them,” noting that “the manuscripts include rich national and cultural diversity.”
Al-Alyawi indicated that the house “has embarked on this mission with the support of European expertise, which includes the digital conversion of its collection of manuscripts, in addition to the restoration of books that are hundreds of years old, as well as manuscripts and paintings of Arabic calligraphy, which have been damaged by moisture, insects and human use over centuries of time.”
He continued, “Some manuscripts are more than 1,000 years old,” noting that “there are manuscripts in Arabic, Persian, Turkish, Hebrew, and Kurdish that represent a huge cultural diversity, in addition to calligraphic patches and paintings written by senior Arab and foreign calligraphers.”
Al-Alyawi mentioned that “among the manuscripts that are being worked on, there are ancient manuscripts that talk about the ceremonies of Ashura of Imam Hussein (peace be upon him).”
He also explained that “the manuscripts in general were preserved in a special underground shelter in a suburb of the capital, Baghdad, during the war on Iraq in 2003,” noting that “the people of the region and a group of employees confronted the thefts that these precious manuscripts were subjected to.”
Al-Alyawi expressed his hope that the cadres will be able to “restore 100 manuscripts in a year, which is a very large number,” he said.
