Қайыр сөздері мен қолжазбалардың Ұлттық кітапханасы: Қаһиредегі мұражайдың тарихы мен зардаптары

Library in Cairo, Egypt

The Egyptian National Library and Archives (دار الكتب والوثائق القومية; "Dar el Kotob") is located in Nile Corniche, Cairo and is the largest library in Egypt, followed by Al Azhar University and the Bibliotheca Alexandrina (New Library of Alexandria). The Egyptian National Library and Archives are a non profit government organization. The National Library houses several million volumes on a wide range of topics. On Friday, January 24, 2014, a car bomb meant to destroy the Police Headquarters across the street from the National Library and Archives did quite a bit of damage to the library's building and collections. National Library and Archive head Abdul Nasser Hassan estimated that the losses would be around $2.81 million in repairs. Lighting and ventilation systems were destroyed and the Neo Mamluk architectural facade was heavily damaged. Showcases and displays containing irreplaceable ancient manuscripts and papyri within the library's museum exhibition area were damaged along with all the furniture in the building. The conservation staff at the National Library and Archives were able to save the documents on display, although they did sustain some damage.

Collections include a wide variety of manuscripts of the Qur'an, written on paper and parchment. Some of which date back to early Kufic script. Others are written by celebrated calligraphers. Of Egyptian Islamic materials, there is perhaps the outstanding collection of illuminated manuscripts of the Qur'an in the Mamluk text hand, and in Trilinear and Rayhani hands. There are also collections of Arabic papyri from different sites in Egypt, some dating to the 7th century AD or earlier. The library is a mine of information on early Islamic Egypt's social and cultural life. Ancient Persian and Ottoman documents are also part of the collection. The library remains Egypt's largest resource of manuscripts and documents that include more than 57,000 of the most valuable manuscripts in the world. The manuscript collection covers a vast number of subjects, fully documented, dated, and compiled. It also houses a rare number of Arabic papyri. These are related to marriage, rent, and exchange contracts, as well as records, accounts of taxes, distribution of inheritance, etc. The oldest papyrus group dates back to the year AH 87 (AD 705); only 444 papyri from this collection were published. The library also has a large collection of medieval Arabic coins from as early as AD 696, which were published by Stanley Lane Poole, Bernhardt Moritz and recently by Norman D. Nicol, Jere L. Bacharach and Rifa'at al Nabarawy in 1982. These collections are of high archeological value. Collections formed by Ahmed Taymour Pasha, Ahmed Zaki Pasha, Ahmed Tal'aat Bey and Mustafa Fadel all came to the National Library in the early 20th century.

Moritz, Bernhardt: "Additions à la collection numismatique de la Bibliothèque Khédiviale". In: Bulletin de l'Institut Egyptien; 4e sér. 4 (1903), pp. 199–204. Nicol, Norman D.; el Nabarawy, R. & Bacharach, J. L.: Catalog of the Islamic Coins, Glass Weights, Dies and Medals in the Egyptian National Library, Cairo. Malibu, California 1983.