Founded in 1798 by Napoleon Bonaparte, the Egyptian Scientific Institute was the oldest institution of its type in the Middle East. It's collection includes the original of Description de l'Egypte. The building burned when a Molotov cocktail which was thrown during protests missed it mark and hit the institute instead.
Updated: Egypt Institute Burns; Scholars Scramble to Rescue Manuscripts
Egypt's oldest research institute caught fire during demonstrations in central Cairo on 18 December, destroying an unknown number of precious books and manuscripts. Shocked Egyptologists call the destruction a "tragedy," and are now trying to locate and salvage the research treasures.
The Institut d'Égypte was founded as a scientific research academy by Napoleon Bonaparte during his 1798 Egyptian campaign, an invasion which brought the country's ancient history to the attention of Western scholars. The collection includes at least 20,000 documents and books, many of which are irreplaceable. Among the books is a rare original copy of the Description de l'Egypt, the first extensive illustrated text on Egyptian antiquities, temples, and monuments.
According to that news story, 35,000 items had been rescued, although their condition was not given.
Words fail me. Thank you to Mahmoud Khalifa for posting to the IFLA list and Soraya Assar for passing it on to MEDLIB-L, alerting us to what had happened.
No comments:
Post a Comment