Arab/Islamic Science Manuscripts Digitization Project Started
29-09-2002 ()
Tadhkrat Ibn-al-Baytar
© National Library, Egypt
"Arabic/Islamic contributions in the field of Medical Sciences" is the first title of a new series on "Contributions of the Arab/Islamic Civilization to the Sciences", which has recently been published in Cairo resulting from cooperation between the UNESCO Cairo Office, the Egyptian National Centre for Documentation of Cultural and Natural Heritage (CULTNAT) and the National Library of Egypt.
"This pilot project is the first phase of a long term, encyclopaedic effort to use ICTs for archiving and accessing rare treasures of Arab and Islamic civilisations" explains Tarek Shawki from the UNESCO Cairo Office. The main result of this first phase of the project was the digitization of 2,000 manuscripts that will now be made available in the public domain for the benefit of researchers, analysts and other interested readers.
The digitised manuscripts are part of the collection of 1,084 manuscripts of Arab, Turkish and Persian origin related to medical sciences held by the National Library of Egypt in Cairo. The paper catalogue contains the detailed description of 31 of them.
According to Tarek Shawki, the totality of the digitised collection will be published on a trilingual CD-ROM (Arabic, English and French) and, by the end of this year, on the Internet.
The digitised manuscripts are part of the collection of 1,084 manuscripts of Arab, Turkish and Persian origin related to medical sciences held by the National Library of Egypt in Cairo. The paper catalogue contains the detailed description of 31 of them.
According to Tarek Shawki, the totality of the digitised collection will be published on a trilingual CD-ROM (Arabic, English and French) and, by the end of this year, on the Internet.
Risal Fi Tarkib al-'Ain© National Library, Egypt
Related themes/countries
· Egypt: News Archives 2002
· Public Domain Information: News Archives 2002
Share this story:
Contact information
- UNESCO
Source