New building for ancient desert librarySpecialists are also cataloging the contents of the library.
Coptic monastery of Deir al-Surian in Egyptian desert was established in the sixth century
By Martin Bailey. Conservation, Issue 248, July-August 2013 (The Art Newspaper)
Published online: 17 July 2013
One of the world’s earliest libraries—well over a millennium old—finally has its first dedicated building. The Coptic monastery of Deir al-Surian (the monastery of the Syrians), in the Egyptian desert, was established in the sixth century and some of its manuscripts were collected by its abbot during a trip to Baghdad in AD927.
The new building opened in May, in a two-storey structure nestling within the monastery’s tenth-century walls. It includes a reading room, a small display area, conservation facilities and a basement store, all of which are secure and maintain proper environmental conditions.
Although some of the collection was acquired by the Vatican Library in the 18th century and more went to the British Museum’s library in the 19th century, 1,000 bound manuscripts and 1,500 manuscript fragments remain at Deir al-Surian. These texts are in Coptic, Syriac, Ethiopic and Arabic. They include the earliest dated Christian literary manuscript (AD411), the earliest dated Biblical manuscript (AD459) and the earliest dated Gospel manuscript (AD510). Some of these texts were discovered in 1998 in rubble underneath a wooden floor.
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This is very good news. I have been following the story of the Deir al-Surian monastery library since 2006, when efforts to renovate it began. Despite all the upheavals in Egypt, the new building is done and in use. Background here and follow the links back to 2006.