World Heritage Day, Op-ed

On the day of world heritage, have you ever tried to enter the Egyptian Book House in Bab al-Khalq? Did you know that it has a museum of manuscripts that is one of the largest and rarest Arabic manuscripts in the world?

Let's answer these questions with that visit, when you enter the Egyptian Book House in Bab al-Khalq, you leave your ID card to go up to the first floor of the book house until you enter the glass door of the museum and find the archaeologists who love their work and perform it to the fullest, including Professor Ahmed Adel, who will take us on a legendary trip to the Museum of the House of Books on World Heritage Day.

Which possesses a rare collection of important manuscripts up to 60 thousand manuscripts in Arabic, Turkish and Persian in various arts of natural and religious sciences, poetry, mathematics, linguistics, history, sociology, a rare collection of papyrus papers and rare maps, written albums, book covers and coins, it is a museum I have never seen in the Middle East in terms of great manuscripts.

Having the Egyptian Book House such a museum that contains precious and rare things besides allowing the public to see this intellectual and artistic legacy of the Islamic world for free, is considered the greatest gain of all generations.

After an introduction to the house of books and its history with Professor Ahmed, we go up together with the elevator to get to know the museum, which is three storeys starting with the opening of the educational hall.

In the hall, visitors will find an explanation for what is the meaning of the manuscript, and what are the writing surfaces on which manuscripts and books were written from the beginning of antiquity to our time.

They will also acknowledge the art of preparing the manuscript itself from the surface of writing and the stage of inks and tools used and the stage of copying and writing a manuscript and then the stage of binding, which are non-archaeological pieces.

Then, the professor started indicating that they are specialized halls pided by scientific specialization starting with the hall of papyrus which has a collection of papyrus on display, including six models about daily life, a large way such as marriage contracts and sales contracts, renting or buying administrative orders and religious papyrus, including various veils, which are from the eighth century AH.

There are two administrative orders for the governor of Qara bin Shrek and there is a marriage contract, and a contract for the sale of a house on red leather dating back to 259 Hijri, and then a document of age for a neighbour from the 4th century AH, which is the only piece of slavery in the museum.

When we enter the hall of science, including scientific and natural sciences and medicine science, you will see a manuscript from the Ottoman era and the manuscript of law in medicine for Ibn- Sina, and a copy of a small booklet of Abu Bakr al-Razi.

There is also a vitrine of the sciences of pharmacology and the most important manuscript in it is the mosque in the single medicines of Ibn al-Bitar, which is the extraction of medicines from plants.

The third vitrine has sports sciences in general and a space manuscript named revealing robes in arithmetic and talking about the methods of al-Baytar and the sciences of arithmetic, Heron's Greek book on raising heavy objects, then the Hall of Geography and Astronomy, and Professor Ahmed Adel sheds light on the Arabic and European manuscripts in that hall, such as the wonders of creatures of the Qazwaini.

Also, there are two Turkish and Persian copies, as well as the paths of the kingdoms to Abu Al-Qasim. Ibrahim Muhammad al-Farsi al-Astichari, Egypt's plans for ibn Daqmak, and the copy of the conquest of the Two Holy Mosques by Yahya Lari, the oldest guide to hajj and umrah in the Ottoman era, the author described everything, even architectural aspects, rituals and mapping of every place.

And a copy of the book editing the dictionary of Ptolemy by Nasreddine Toussi and astronomical balls and applications of astronomy in the life of Muslims, as well as the manuscript of drawing watches at the level of surfaces and the manufacture of practice and pieces of an astrolabe.

Other pieces of European maps of alexander the Great's conquests, a map of Portuguese explorations and a map of the French continent of Africa in the 16th century, then the number of two geographical balls made in the Netherlands and another ball from the towers, and then the manuscript of the images of the fixed planets of Abderrahmane Soufi, a Persian copy of the manuscript.

We go down to the hall of coins and professor Ahmed gives me an introduction to the history of the coins, noting that it is the most important pieces of the museum before the Arabization of money and return to Aelia in Palestine, then a silver dirham minted in Damascus in 69 Hijri, which is a full model of Arabization of coins, a Moroccan gold dinar and ikgshidic piece dating back to 332 Hijri.

Another vitrine with the dinar minted in Alexandria and with the Rang Sultan al-Zahir baibars and Durham Mohammed Ali Pasha,  Then specialized halls of social life and explained to me two manuscripts about the life of horses, and the book of the model of fighting in the transmission of the family about chess in the Ottoman era, and the last thing in the hall was the writings of the Armenian religion's saviour on string instruments in the science of music, and another very important book by Saad Effendi on the translations of musicians in the Ottoman era may be used by some researchers in the popular heritage to draw the translations of musicians who lived in this era.

Then we go to the hall of language and literature, whether Arabic, Persian or Turkish literature and the book of characteristics, which is about grammar, and the admired awe the necessity saying by  Safadi and it is in the science of eloquence, which is a unique copy because it is in the writing of its author, as well as the book of the eternal wisdom by muskuyah, and part of the manuscript of the poetry of Ali Sher The nucleus, then a book on the science of happiness in Turkish.

Then we enter the Persian side, we will find in front of us a collection of collections recorded by UNESCO in 2007, one of the most important pieces of archaeological manuscripts in the world and the Egyptian Book House with three collections of that rare collection of Persian manuscripts tasted in photographs, the Collection of Ottoman Royal Pharaohs and the Collection of Qur'ans in the Mamluk era.

The Persian manuscripts, are four manuscripts, the most important of which is the Shahnama of the Persian poet Abi al-Qasim Hassan bin Ishaq al-Fardoussi, and a copy of the Safavid era of the story of Youssef and Zulekha, one of the most famous manuscripts of Iran in the Safavid era, then we moved to the historic hall and completed the explanation with the manuscript of Baghdad's history of the Baghdadi fiancé and on it is being heard and copied during the era of the Baghdadi fiancé, which is very rare.

An abbreviation for al-Khatib al-Baghdadi's book by Shams al-Din al-Dhahabi is the acronym needed from the history of Baghdad due to its fame as al-Baghdadi's book at the time.

Then a copy of the manuscript of Nouzha al-Mushtaq in penetrating the horizons of Sherif Idrissi, a geographical book and this book is considered the first of its kind in the world with a complete drawing of the earth as a comprehensive map of the world, and then the copy of the manuscript of Morocco in the costume of Morocco written through five people in a time sequence and that copy has restrictions on important people, including Al-Muqrizi, ibn Daqmak and therefore is under the restriction of sultan supporting Sheikh Mahmoudi on a university in the region of Sukkari.

Then a copy of the stories of the prophets, then a copy of the book of the saying in the book of Mawlana Sultan, the honourable king of Minister Ibn Jayan, and he wrote all the journey of Sultan Qaitbay, then the Hall of Fermanat and the Royal Orders there are four pieces of which is a document denied Ahmed Orabi Pasha, and two documents of Two Ottoman Fermanin, two groups annexed by UNESCO, and then a document stood a house in the Ayyubid period, which is in the opinion of serious researchers to look, research and analyze the waqf system in the Ayyubid era for those who want them.

Mr Ahmed Adel brings me to the third floor and begins with the Hall of the Qur'an and the history of the early Qur'an, which is written in early Kufic script and dates back to the second century Hijri of large size, then a different group of Qur'ans including What Ottoman, including Timuri and also Morocco in the era of the Almohads in the age of almohads of different time and place in which it was written, then the interactive hall and wonders of artefacts and unlimited imagination through an interactive display to display all the collections of the museum as if you touch it and move it as you will.

Then the Hall of Religious Sciences and a copy of the manuscript of the explanation true Bukhari for Ibn Batal, an Andalusian scholar, and then I found a copy of the readings of the seven imams and a copy of a small booklet Imam Ibn Hajar Al-Ashkelni, which is enjoying the forty different provided to hear, then a model of the Dome of the Rock decorated with precious stones, which is from Iran in the Safavid era, and then I saw a copy of the manuscript of the Planets of Al-Durra in praise of The Master of the Barah to Imam Al-Bousiri, which is Barda.

He explained the Muhammadan Shamals to the imam of Abdul Rauf Al-Manawi and a small booklet of signs of goodness until we reached the last hall, which is the Qur'an in the Mamluk era, which is the largest group of Qur'ans in the Mamluk era found in the whole world.

It was suspended on religious institutions, whether for women or sultans, including three Qur'ans, a quarter of thirty parts, two parts, the 29th and the thirty-ninth of Nasser Muhammad bin Qalawun, and he gave them a gift to one of his princes, Prince Bakimar bin Abdullah al-Saki, and each quarter of the Qur'an with the dome or the waqf text on the burial dome, a unique Qur'an in the line of basil and gold.  And a copy of a Qur'an that stood for one of the Princes of the Mamluks, Prince Sargmash al-Nazareth, stood in his school and written in the line realized black balloon and with gilding, and there is a large Qur'an consisting of two parts each part fifteen parts and it is huge and it belongs to the honourable Sultan Shaaban and Mrs Khund Baraka and his father Sultan Shaaban stood to read the Quran at the school located in the door of the minister in the al Darab al Ahmar, And a poster with gold chips written in the line achieved, and several Qur'ans that came from Mamluk mosques such as Sultan Faraj bin Barquq, Sultan Qaitbay.

then a huge filter binding model decorated with silver chips one hundred and fifty kilograms of wood and silver and came from India as a gift to King Farouk I, then models of some prophetic ornaments and the majority of them date back to the Ottoman era in the line of copying and third and part of the hardships in the plans of months calligraphers Calligrapher Sami and Hafez Othman.

The Museum of the House of Books in Bab al-Khalq is the greatest of its intellectual, literary, scientific, cultural and heritage products of the Islamic nation and the world at large.