NEWS: More on the conflagration at the Institut d'Égypte

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Rare documents burned in Egypt clash

December 20 2011 at 01:22pm
REUTERS

Cairo - Volunteers in white laboratory coats, surgical gloves and
masks stood on the back of a pickup truck on Monday along the banks of
the Nile River in Cairo, rummaging through stacks of rare 200-year-old
manuscripts that were little more than charcoal debris.

The volunteers, ranging from academic experts to appalled citizens,
have spent the past two days trying to salvage what's left of some 192
000 books, journals and writings, casualties of Egypt's latest bout of
violence.

Institute d'Egypte, a research centre set up by Napoleon Bonaparte
during France's invasion in the late 18th century, caught fire during
clashes between protesters and Egypt's military over the weekend. It
was home to a treasure trove of writings, most notably the handwritten
24-volume Description de l'Egypte, compiled during the 1798-1801
French occupation.

The Description of Egypt, which French scientists began writing in
1798, is likely burned beyond repair. Its home, the two-story historic
institute near Tahrir Square, is now in danger of collapsing after the
roof caved in.

“The burning of such a rich building means a large part of Egyptian
history has ended,” the director of the institute, Mohammed
al-Sharbouni, told state television over the weekend.

He said most of the contents were destroyed in the fire that raged for
over 12 hours on Saturday. Firefighters flooded the building with
water, adding to the damage.
iol new spic egypt document 2

Burnt pages from books from the Scientific Institute lie in a pile
near cabinet offices near Tahrir Square in Cairo.

REUTERS

The violence erupted in Cairo Friday, when military forces guarding
the Cabinet building, near the institute, cracked down on a 3-week-old
sit-in to demand the country's ruling generals hand power to a
civilian authority. At least 14 people have been killed.

Zein Abdel-Hady, who runs the country's main library, is leading the
effort to try and save what's left of the charred manuscripts.

“This is equal to the burning of Galileo's books,” Abdel-Hady said,
referring to the Italian scientist whose work proposing that the earth
revolved around the sun was believed to have been burned in protest in
the 17th century.

Below Abdel-Hady's office, dozens of people sifted through the mounds
of debris brought to the library. A man in a surgical coat carried a
pile of burned paper with his arms carefully spread, as if cradling a
baby.

The rescuers used newspapers to cover some partially burned books.
Bulky machines vacuum-packed delicate paper.

At least 16 truckloads with around 50 000 manuscripts, some damaged
beyond repair, have been moved from the sidewalks outside the U.S.
Embassy and the American University in Cairo, both near the burned
institute, to the main library, Abdel-Hady said.

He told The Associated Press that there is no way of knowing what has
been lost for good at this stage, but the material was worth tens of
millions of dollars - and in many ways simply priceless.

“I haven't slept for two days, and I cried a lot yesterday. I do not
like to see a book burned,” he said. “The whole of Egypt is crying.”

He said that there are four other handwritten copies of the
Description of Egypt. The French body of work has also been digitized
and is available online.

There may have been a map of Egypt and Ethiopia, dated in 1753, that
was destroyed in the fire. However, another original copy of the map
is in Egypt's national library, he said. The gutted institute also
housed 16th century letters and manuscripts that were bound and
shelved like books.

The most accessible inventory at the moment for what was housed in the
institute is in a 1920's book kept in the U.S. Library of Congress,
according to William Kopycki, a regional field director with the
Washington DC-based library. He said the body of work that was
destroyed was essential for researchers of Egyptian history, Arabic
studies and Egyptology.

“It's a loss of a very important institute that many scholars have
visited,” he said during a meeting with Abdel-Hady to evaluate the
level of destruction.

What remains inside the historic building near the site of the clashes
are piles of burned furniture, twisted metal and crumbled walls. A
double human chain of protesters surrounded the building on Monday.

At a news conference on Monday, a general from the country's ruling
military council said an investigation was under way to find who set
the building on fire. State television aired images of men in
plainclothes burning the building and dancing around the fire Saturday
afternoon. Protesters also took advantage of the fire, using the
institute's grounds to hurl firebombs and rocks at soldiers atop
surrounding buildings.

A military colonel, helping out with rescue efforts at the library,
said about 10 soldiers have been tasked with assisting the volunteers.
He asked not to be named because he was not authorised to speak to
reporters.

Volunteer Ahmed el-Bindari said the military shoulders the brunt of
responsibility for using its roof as a position to attack protesters
before the fire erupted.

“When the government wants to protect something, they do,” el-Bindari
said. “Try to reach the Interior Ministry or Defenses Ministry
buildings. You won't be able to.” - Sapa-AP