The international body Patrimoine Sans Frontières two days ago issued an
urgent alert on the danger to historic buildings and monuments in the Iraqi
city of Najaf, which are under heavy military attack. Apparently a number
of historic funerary monuments have already been destroyed. Thanks are due
to Andras Riedlmayer for posting this on the IraqCrisis site, where it can
be read at
https://listhost.uchicago.edu/pipermail/iraqcrisis/2004-August/000797.html
The focus of the fighting seems to be the mausoleum and shrine of Imam
`Ali. This contained two major collections of Islamic manuscripts: Al-Rawda
al-Haydariya collection (also known as Al-Khizana al-Gharawiya) with over
1200 MSS, and the Bayt al-Hikma Library, with over 2400. The latter,
according to the World Survey of Islamic Manuscripts, had previously been
gathered after 1977 from a number of madrasa and private libraries, and was
"kept in some rooms in the mausoleum, waiting for the availability of a
suitable building". This information dates from 1993, but it is likely that
the situation had not changed before the outbreak of fighting. If so, then
these MSS, some of which date back to the 14th century and include rare and
unique autograph texts, must be in serious danger. This is true also of a
number of other college and private libraries in the immediate vicinity.
Given the poor record of the attacking forces in protecting such
collections when they invaded and occupied Baghdad and other Iraqi cities
last year, and their general ignorance of, and disdain for, the cultural
heritage of the country, one must fear the worst. Has anyone heard any news
which might shed light on their fate? And can anything at all be done to
influence those doing the attacking?
Geoffrey Roper
Cambridge
Editor, World Survey of Islamic Manuscripts
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