Cross-posted from Nature Middle East’s House of Wisdom blog on behalf of Mohammed Yahia.
A page from the Description de l'Égypt book.
Renewed clashes between protesters and soldiers over the weekend near Tahrir Square, the epicentre of Egypt’s January revolution, saw the Institut d’Egypte, home to some of Egypt’s oldest manuscripts and books, set on fire.
Ismail Serageldin, director of the Library of Alexandria, commented on his Twitter account that the institute, Egypt’s Academy of Science, was the second oldest modern academy outside Europe, after the American Philosophical Society. “Priceless manuscripts and irreplaceable books are lost.”
Nobody is sure who started the fire, but it quickly spread through the building. Fire trucks very close by the academy did not move to put out the fire. Protesters tried to put it out but it was in vain. Hundreds of protesters tried to rush in and save as many books and manuscripts as possible.
The academy was home to over 200,000 old maps, manuscripts and books. However, the protesters managed to save only 30,000 of those — many in poor condition from the fire.
The academy was originally built by Napoleon Bonaparte and his scientists in 1798 during his campaign to invade Egypt. The most precious book in the academy was the original copy of the Description de l’Égypt, a book compiled by more than 150 of Napoleon’s scientists and scholars from data gathered between 1809 and 1821, and some 2,000 artists and technicians. They produced 20 volumes of text that offered a detailed peek into Egypt’s contemporary and ancient histories at that time.
Unfortunately, the nine volumes of the book that were in the academy were lost. There are three other copies that remain, however. The Library of Alexandria has also digitized all 20 volumes for protection and to make them more accessible to the public.
Serageldin lamented the ongoing clashes and the burning down of the Academy of Science. “Learning and knowledge are additional victims,” he said on Twitter.
Read more on Nature‘s Arab Spring news special and on the House of Wisdom.