Tajikistan’s Ambassador to Egypt Khusrav Noziri yesterday met in Cairo with Ahmed al-Shawki, head of the General Authority for National Library and Archives of Egypt.
According to the Tajik MFA information department, the two discussed issues related to establishment and expansion of bilateral cooperation between the National Library of Tajikistan and Egyptian National Library and Archives and manuscript centers of the two countries.
Mr. Ahmed al-Shawki reportedly proposed to sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on cooperation between the National Library and Archives of Egypt and relevant agencies of Tajikistan.
The Egyptian National Library and Archives (Dar el-Kotob) in Cairo is the largest library in Egypt. The second largest are the libraries of Al-Azhar University and the Bibliotheca Alexandrina (New Library of Alexandria).
The National Library, the oldest government library, houses several million volumes on a wide range of topics. It is one of the largest in the world with thousands of ancient collections. It also contains a vast variety of Arabic-language and other Eastern manuscripts. Collections include a wide variety of manuscripts of the Qur'an, written on paper and parchment, with some in the early undotted Kufic script, other written by celebrated calligraphers.
The National Library of Egypt was started in 1870 by a decree from Khedive Ismail through an initiative from Ali Pasha Mubarak, the education minister at the time. In its first decades the position of director was held by German Orientalists, most notable among them were Karl Vollers and Bernhardt Moritz.
