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 | The National Library and Archives of Egypt is a
government research and cultural non- profit authority, whose main concern is to
render library services throughout Egypt and the Arab World. |
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| Our authority was established as
an independent legal entity by virtue of the presidential decree No. 176 for
1993, with an allocated budget including detailed items for each of its
activities as specified by the standards of State Master Budget. |
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| NL's
premises, a 7-storey building over- looking the Nile Corniche in Ramlet Boulac
District, has been intended from the very beginning to be a large complex for a
variety of cultural activities. However, the annex building is now accommodating
the National Archives.
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| The National Library and Archives, as one of
several governmental
institutions, must help implementing the Ministry of
Culture's responsibilities in the
domains of National and Public Libraries, Legacy, Manuscripts, National
Archives, Documentation and Information.
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| The activities undertaken by the National Library
and Archives are therefore designed to achieve the following objects: |
- To make available all facilities necessary for
getting acquainted with the world intellectual production and to render library
services for that purpose.
- To take an integral part in the revival of the
intellectual heritage by collecting originals thereof, and to assist in making
these available for scholars and researchers.
- To collect, maintain and edit all possible
manuscripts, microforms, photographs, recordings, and make these available for
research purposes.
- To collect all documents pertaining to national
history and any other relevant subject matter in all ages, and to prepare and to
maintain these for general use.
| All activities launched by NLA are properly
assisted by the NL's press which is not only responsible for printing of
legacy books, but also for the books edited by our research centres.
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| Through more active interest and participation in
the national guidance, the National Library must also keep up-to-date with
relevant social, economic and technological developments so as to be responsive
to the demands of the general public and clientele groups, in addition to
cooperating with other institutions of the Ministry of Culture
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| The
National Library, the oldest government library, houses several million authored
and translated volumes covering nearly every field of knowledge, and possesses
in addition a vast variety of Arab and other oriental manuscripts. Collections
of references open to the public.
User needs only a "Reader's Pass" in order to use the readings rooms and
consult the catalogues on the NL's premises.
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| The public
libraries spread throughout Greater Cairo, and our fleet of Mobile Libraries are
responsible for rendering services free of charge to the general public,
children, and scholarly community. All users have free access to such facilities
and can borrow books.
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| On the
academic level, the National Archives, with its immense variety of documents
relevant to the history of Egypt, also renders services free of charge to
researchers, scholars, university professors, and to those engaged in the work
on political and social history of Egypt.
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| The
National Library and Archives of Egypt is one of the oldest libraries in the
Middle East and its importance lies in having about 55.000 of the most significant collections of manuscripts and microforms in the
world which are rendered in Arabic, Turkish and Persian languages.
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| These rare
collections of manuscripts include a wide variety of the Holy Koran (Qur'an),
whose early versions are written on paper and parchment, others are in the early
undotted Kufi style. Among them are copies written by celebrated calligraphers
as Yaquote-al-Mosta? asimi. In addition, there is a magnificent collection
containing the largest and most richly illuminated versions of the Holy Koran
copied in the Mameluke Text-hand, Trilinear and Rayhani writings.
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| The
National Library's collections also include a wide variety of the most
valuable manuscripts in various fields of knowledge such as general information,
religion, scientific heritage and literature, amongst which is a unique book
entitled as (the Message) by Al-Emam-al-Shafi'ai tackling the principles of
jurisprudence, and dating back to the third, fourth and fifth centuries, were
privately owned by Taymour Pasha, Ahmed Zaki Pasha, Ahmed Tal'aat Bey and
Mustafa Fadel, then successively acquired and added to the National Library's
stock at the end of the nineteenth century.
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| Other
collections contain rare Persian manuscripts, some of which are beautifully
illustrated by famous Persian painters, like Bostan Sa'adi illustrated in 893
H. by Behzad who was entitled as Raphael of the East, also like Shahnama (Book of Kings ) by Ferdawsi and Hayder Nama in 416 H.
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| Ottoman
Turkish manuscripts date back to a few centuries ago and represent an important
heritage for the Middle East area.
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| Also, the
Arabic papyri collection, discovered at the end of the nineteenth century and
amounts to 3.000 papyri, are written in both Arabic and Greek. The majority of
such manuscripts are in Arabic and the earliest of which dates back to 22H, and
represents invaluable treasure for those who study the development of Arabic
calligraphy as they are rich in information about the economic life in Egypt and
include deeds of sale and purchase, marriage lines and title-deeds that extend
from the Amawi period to Fatimid period.
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| Similarly,
the National Archives has a rare paper historical collection of documents in
both Arabic and Turkish languages. The Library's collection include valuable
documents` pertaining to the history of Egypt, the earliest of which is the
endowment deed of the Fatimid Minister Talae'a bin Ruzeik, dating back to the
Ayyubid era (d.567-648 H. / 1058 A.D.). In addition, there are legal documents
dating back to the Mameluke era ( d.648-923 H. /1250-1517 A.D. ), 74 legal
documents dating back to the Ottoman era ( d. 1517-1805 A.D.).
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| Moreover,
the National Archives has a wide variety of documents in English, French and
Italian languages. These collections, which cover the 19th. and 20th. Centuries
are very important for conducting substantive researches and studies on the
history of Egypt Arab World, Africa and their relations with Europe.
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| Our Library
collections are of significant nature as they represent an essential part of the
human heritage. All of these have helped to build the NL's outstanding local
and international reputation.
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| The
National Library and Archives comprises a number of research centers, such as:
the Center for Editing & Publishing Arabic Manuscripts,the Center of
Documents and Contemporary History of Egypt, the Computer Center, the
Documentation and Research Center for Children's Literature and the
Restoration Conservation & Microfilm Center, which has recently been
provided and equipped through a Protocol of Cooperation concluded between Egypt
and the Kingdom of Spain whose cooperation and understanding are thankfully
appreciated. Infrastructure works at the NL's premises were mostly financed by
the Egyptian Cultural Development Fund.
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| The
National Library and Archives has recently been honored by Mrs. Suzanne Mubarak
inauguration of the first phase of development of (15) research and reading
halls. With the inauguration of the NA's (3) halls occupying a total area of
1.000 sq.m.,NL's (12) halls occupying a total area of 6.000 sq.m, assuming
extensive reorganization and develo- pment of our premises, we can safely claim
that our library services will soon be brought in line with international levels
and we will spare no effort in meeting our users' expectations and needs.
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| In
pursuance of the NL's policy for the dissemination of Arab culture and
fulfilling the requirements of research activity, priority is given to edit,
reprint and introduce to as many readers and researchers all over the world to
legacy books as possible, as well as edit and publishall documents relevant to the history of Egypt. |
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