Emirati researcher donates 2K books to ancient Iraqi library

CAIRO – 28 May 2017: Emirati researcher Khalifa Saif Hamed El-Tenejy, gives courtesy of two thousand books in different languages to Ashurbanipal library affiliated with Mosul University. The collection belongs initially to El-Tenejy’s private library, and includes ancient books in politics, history, geography, and literature, as well as encyclopedias.

That step is part of an Arab and international initiative led by Bibliotheca Alexandrina to support the project adopted by Mosul University to revive its library.

El-Tenejy expressed his appreciation for the initiative launched by Khaled Azab, the head of Projects and Central Services sector in Bibliotheca Alexandrina, as it aims to provide Ashurbanipal library with 100 thousand books. He added that he aims that this would be the basis for restoring hundreds of Arab libraries, especially historical ones, which have been neglected or vandalized throughout the last few years.

Azab called earlier for individuals, publishing houses, and scientific and cultural institutions in Egypt and the Arab world to contribute in enriching Ashurbanipal library through book offerings.

Established by the Ashurian king Ashurbanipal (668-627 B.C.), the Ashurbanipal is the first library in the world in terms of size, organization, and variety of information.

It is worth mentioning that thirty thousand texts and tablets of the library’s contents are located in the British Museum after they were discovered by the British antiquity expedition between the years 1845 and 1854.