The town of Timbuktu, with the minaret of Sankore mosque in the background and nomads’ tents in the foreground. Photograph: Alexio Motsi and Mary Minicka for the Timbuktu Manuscripts Preservation Project
Conser ving t he Timbuk t u manu script s Timbuktu is a name that conjures up visions of shimmering buildings in a desert haze. But, as Alexio Motsi and Mary Minicka explain, conserving the city’s ancient manuscripts is a triumph for heritage conservation. Top right: Al-shifa bi ta’arif huquq al-Mustafa or The Rights of the Prophet, as this work is known, describes the life of Prophet Muhammad in detail, describing his high moral qualities, miracles and marvels. It includes a genealogy of the Prophet going back 21 generations. It is highly admired in the Muslim world and many commentaries have been written about it. It is even considered to have protective powers for the owner and his household. The author was a prominent scholar in the Maliki school of thought that is dominant in North and West Africa. This copy of a 12th century work has been made especially beautiful in order to reflect the glory of the subject. Decorated with gold illumination and written in Maghribi script, the praises of the Prophet are written in red. Some words in the text are explained in the marginal notes. Photograph: Alexio Motsi and Mary Minicka for the Timbuktu Manuscripts Preservation Project
Above: The entrance of the Ahmed Baba Institute in Timbuktu, a library housing thousands of manuscripts. Photograph: Alexio Motsi and Mary Minicka for the Timbuktu Manuscripts Preservation Project Ahmed Baba Institute (IHERI AB) library.
42 Quest 4(4) 2008
M
ention the word ‘conservation’ to most South Africans and they will think of things that crawl, run, fly, creep, swim, bite and claw. However, a significant portion of the preservation of humanity’s social environment is intimately connected with preserving the record of its existence. This record includes tangible heritage objects, such as paintings, pottery, personal ornament, books and documents, clothing, photographs and architecture; but it also extends to the intangible: ritual, thought, ideas, knowledge, memory… it’s a long list. This is the field of heritage conservation. One of the most significant heritage preservation projects on the African continent has been quietly underway since 2003. A small group of South African book and document conservators have been engaged in conservation repair and preservation, and the training of Malian conservators. The project was initiated after a visit to Timbuktu in Mali by President Thabo Mbeki in 2001. Mali, like many African countries, struggles to balance the pressing demands of social and economic development with the perceived ‘luxury’ of preserving an immensely significant heritage. In Mali’s case the preservation of the manuscripts in Timbuktu, and throughout the wider West and North African region, is an imperative. The manuscripts of Timbuktu once and for all put an end to the myth that Africa had no indigenous literary or scholarly activity before the
arrival of the colonial powers. Realising the immense importance of the manuscripts as a record of Africa’s intellectual history, President Mbeki pledged South African technical and material expertise to assist in the preservation of this valuable African heritage in order to make the manuscripts and their contents accessible to present and future generations for research and study. The Timbuktu Project is hailed as the first cultural initiative of Nepad – The New Partnership for Africa’s Development. Conservation repair is one of the most important aspects of the Timbuktu Manuscripts Preservation Project. Conservators are highly trained specialist professionals concerned with the actual physical repair of damage to – in this case – the paper and leather materials of which the Timbuktu manuscripts are composed. Conservators have a variety of treatment and repair techniques in their professional arsenal, aimed at halting further deterioration or decay of the manuscripts. These treatments can range from the fairly straightforward cleaning of surface dirt and grit from paper, to the careful immersion of paper in a variety of chemical baths to halt or delay the continuation of the chemical decay of paper. Conservation also seeks to look at the broader picture, to understand where and how damage occurs to books and documents, and, importantly, how to prevent that damage from happening in