![]() Its capital is Bamako, a city roughly 1000 miles in the south-west of Timbuktu. Mali is a landlocked country with today roughly 18.5 million inhabitants. In Mali's North, Timbuktu is on the south end of the desert Tanezrouft, one of the most desolate parts of the Sahara. Timbuktu is today the administrative headquarters of the sixth region (of eight) of the Republic Mali in West Africa. “But today the means of Mali are very limited.Figure 1: Timbuktu (the red flag) in Mali, Africa: google maps, April 5, 2019. “Once upon a time, people came from all over the world to Timbuktu in search of knowledge,” he said. President Toure hailed the project as part of an “African Renaissance”. But whether they know or not, they keep them as precious family heirlooms.” “There are more than 100,000 manuscripts kept in five private libraries or owned by numerous families in Timbuktu,” he said. Since 2003, a dozen Malian restorers have come to South Africa each year for two-month training courses, while South African experts go to Timbuktu to advise families that own historic manuscripts.Ĭenturies ago, people flocked toTimbuktu in search of knowledge Naidoo said the project was an ideologically inspired part of a “south-south project to help each other”. Riason Naidoo, director of the project at the South African Ministry of Arts and Culture, said 20 million rand would go to constructing a new centre that would be proof against sun, wind, rain, sand and insects, and a further 15 million would be spent on training a dozen experts to work there. The appeal aims to raise 35 million rand ($5.6 million) as part of a joint programme begun in 2003, to ensure the Timbuktu manuscripts will always be available as part of Africa’s heritage of literature and science. He added that translation and publication of some of the manuscripts would help renew a sense of self-respect and pride in Africa. “Clearly, we cannot allow such a critical part of African history to die, because such a death would mean erasing an important link to our glorious past,” Mbeki said. “Clearly, we cannot allow such a critical part of African history to die, because such a death would mean erasing an important link to our glorious past” Mbeki launched the appeal at a gala dinner in South Africa, as part of the first joint cultural programme under the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD), which encourages collaboration between governments, state institutions and the private sector. He said the modest 1970 building where the manuscripts were kept was not suitable for hi-tech conservation, and that a new centre of international standard would be constructed with the results of the cash appeal. “We wanted to show that contrary to what people sometimes think, the manuscripts do not all deal with Islam,” Dicko said. The documents on display there include a biography of Prophet Muhammad along with treatises on music, astronomy, physics and traditional pharmacy. Toure: The project is part of an African renaissance Of the 25,000 manuscripts at the centre, 16 have gone on display at the Standard Bank Gallery in the heart of Johannesburg, where the exhibition was opened by Mali President Amadou Toumani Toure on Saturday. “They never leave for reasons of preservation and security.” “This is the first time these manuscripts have left the institute,” said the director of the establishment, Mohamed Gallah Dicko. The manuscripts are from the National Ahmed Baba Centre for Documentation and Research in Timbuktu in Mali, which was once an important cultural crossroads that attracted scholars from far afield in the African and Arab worlds.Įxperts say documents kept at the centre, some dating back to the 13th century and finely illuminated, are important because they show that Africa had a long written tradition rather than, as is commonly supposed, an oral one and that African culture was alive and vibrant long before the European Renaissance.
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