Saving Timbuktu manuscripts for posterity

The Timbuktu manuscripts are priceless historical documents. They tell of the quest for knowledge in the Islamic world many centuries ago. Timbuktu was once the center of Islamic research and scholarship in Africa.

When Islamists began destroying historical sites in northern Mali in 2012, a group of concerned citizens began smuggling hundreds of thousands of manuscripts from Timbuktu to Bamako, the Malian capital in the south of the country. The manuscripts have been deposited there in a residential building, waiting to be restored and digitalized.

Abdel Kader Haidara organized the rescue operation. The owner of a family library, he wasn't only interested in saving his own manuscripts but all historical doucments in Timbuktu that were in danger of being destroyed.

The manuscripts are now being digitalized in a library in Bamako. Every page is placed under the camera and photographed. The image is checked and catalogued. Internet giant Google has expressed an interest in the collection.

The aim of digitalizing the manuscripts is twofold. Firstly to preserve them for posterity, should the originals not survive the heat and humidity of Bamako, and secondly to make them available to the general public. Before the armed conflict in the north and the rescue of the manuscripts, there had been no plans to digitalize them.

After the manuscripts have been digitalized, they are placed in acid-free cardboard boxes. Because the manuscripts differ in size, they need specially designed hand-made boxes.

There is not a single book to be found in the Mamma Haidara Memorial Library in Timbuktu. It is far from certain whether the library will ever house historical documents again. Many believe the manuscripts are safer in Bamako, others fear Timbuktu's historical status will be at risk without them.

The Ahmed Baba Institute was built with funding from the Aga Khan Foundation, South Africa and Saudi Arabia. It did not only contain a library, but also equipment for digitalization and restoration. The institute is now empty and dilapidated.

When the Islamists arrived in Timbuktu, they collected a number of manuscripts and set fire to them in the courtyard of the Ahmed Baba Institute. It was a show of force, directed at UNESCO and the West. About 4,000 manuscripts were destroyed in this manner. The charred remains serve as a memorial to lost heritage.

When Timbuktu ceased to be a center of trade and commerce, it turned to tourism as an alternative source of revenue. But after the fighting in 2012, the tourists decided to go elsewhere. Timbuktu is also losing its cultural significance now that almost all the manuscripts have been moved elsewhere . Nobody knows if they will return.

A few private libraries are still intact. But in Timbuktu the term "library" can refer to just a dozen pages that fit on a goat's skin. This resident of Timbuktu inherited a number of manuscript pages from his grandfather. They are his most valuable possession.

The political situation in Mali is tense and the Malian army is currently too weak to guarantee stability and security. Many Timbuktu residents who fled the city in 2012 have not returned. They do not trust the uneasy peace and their city faces an uncertain future.