Timbuktu Manuscripts Rescued From Jihadist Destruction Go on View

ARTNET | NEWS
By Henri Neuendorf

A page from one of the manuscripts Photo: Seydou Camara via Art Daily

AFRICA---The Center of Fine Arts, Brussels is exhibiting a group 16 priceless original manuscripts, which were saved from destruction when Islamist militants occupied the ancient city of Timbuktu in 2012. When Islamist militants took Timbuktu during the Northern Mali conflict in 2012, Abdel Kader Haidara mobilized 32 of the city's libraries to secretly smuggle their collections of ancient manuscripts on African history, mathematics, chemistry, and law to the capital Bamako. Timbuktu, which is a UNESCO world heritage site, was a bustling hub of trade in the 15th and 16th century. [link]