One of the oldest libraries in Timbuktu (image made in 1994) cared for by Mr. Ahmend Saloum Boularaf, who has been caring for ancient documents in Timbuktu for years.
Mr. Boularaf was responsible for many of the most precious books from his grandfather's collection in the Centre des Recheres Ahhmed Baba (CEDRAB) and it was known at that time to be the most impressive private collection in Timbuktu. It covers topics from science to medicine, history, theology grammar, geography. Across Timbuktu , in cupboards, rusting chests, private collections and libraries, tens or perhaps hundreds of thousands of manuscripts bear witness to this legendary city's remarkable intellectual history.
This past weekend Islamist insurgents retreating from Timbuktu, set fire to two libraries containing thousands of priceless historic manuscripts (The manuscripts were reportedly held in two separate locations: an ageing library (I suspect this to be Mr. Boularaf's) and the new South African-funded research centre, the Ahmad Babu Institute, less than a mile away. Completed in 2009 and named after a 17th-century Timbuktu scholar, the centre used state-of-the-art techniques to study and conserve the crumbling scrolls. ) It turns out that most of the manuscripts had already been smuggled into hiding. The people of Timbuktu have long been used to hiding their precious books and the curators of the South African centred aware of the danger the library might be in had already removed most of the books in their care.
