Ahmed Baba Institute
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| Ahmed Baba Institute | |
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 The old building of the Ahmed Baba Institute of Higher Learning and Islamic Research | |
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| General information | |
| Town or city | Timbuktu |
| Country | Mali |
| Completed | 2009 |
| Cost | 5.8 million euros |
| Client | Kuwait |
| Design and construction | |
| Architect(s) | South-African architect |
The Ahmed Baba Institute, officially the Ahmed Baba Institute of Higher Learning and Islamic Research, is a library and research centre in
Ahmad Baba al Massufi.[2]
Building
The current building was designed by a South-African architect and finished in 2009, costing around 5.8 million euros.[3] It has an area of 4,600 sq metres and includes an air conditioning system for the proper preservation of the manuscripts housed in it, as well as an automatic fire-fighting system. It replaced a 40-year-old crumbling building.[3]
Manuscripts
The centre holds approximately 20,000 manuscripts covering Mali's history, including the
Bamanankan, or even in more distant ones, one each in Turkish and Hebrew, with topics covering medicine, astronomy, poetry, literature and Islamic law.[2][3]
A program to
digitize the manuscripts is under way, run by Norway and Luxembourg under UNESCO supervision, with only a fraction of them having been scanned as of January 2013.[2][3]
Arson
On January 28, 2013, as French-led Malian troops captured the airport of Timbuktu, fleeing Tuareg
digitize the manuscripts.[4]
References
- ^ Ahmed Baba Institute of Higher Learning and Islamic Research (IHERI-AB)
- ^ a b c d Harding, Luke (January 28, 2013). "Timbuktu mayor: Mali rebels torched library of historic manuscripts". The Guardian. Retrieved January 28, 2013.
- ^ a b c d Walker, Peter (January 28, 2013). "Timbuktu library is treasure house of centuries of Malian history". The Guardian. Retrieved January 28, 2013.
- ^ HSRC Press (July 28, 2014). "The Ahmed Baba Institute and UNESCO Appeal for Assistance in Helping to Preserve the Timbuktu Manuscripts". Books Live. Retrieved August 23, 2014.
16°46′35″N 3°0′19″W / 16.77639°N 3.00528°W
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