The Mohammed bin Rashid Library: The Library's Relics Exhibition is a civilized museum through the relics of books, manuscripts and rare collectibles

The Mohammed bin Rashid Library takes visitors on a unique journey between different worlds and human civilizations, through the Library’s Relics Gallery, which represents a cultural and civilized museum through its unique collection of rare and ancient books and manuscripts, some of which date back to the 13th century AD.

The Library’s relics exhibition includes the first editions of travel books to Arabia and books describing the Middle East, and a valuable collection of European and Ottoman maps of the Arabian Peninsula from the fifteenth to the nineteenth centuries, including a gilded and colored Ptolemaic map of Arabia printed in the year 1482, in addition to to a variety of carefully curated atlases, including a rare star atlas, a naval atlas, and an atlas of horses and falcons.

Among the rare collections of documents and volumes is the Atlas Mayor “The Composite” Amsterdam-Netherlands Edition 1680-1686 AD, by Frederick de Wit, in which he collected many maps during the Dutch Golden Age, when artistic creativity, scientific research and exploration flourished. An atlas of land and sea together.

The atlas is the latest version of Joan Blaeu's atlas.

The first edition of Blaeu's "Mayor's Atlas", published in 1662, is the greatest achievement of the famous Dutch cartographer Johannes Blaeu, in the seventeenth century.

The eleventh atlas contains 593 single engraved maps and plates colored in gold.

Experts consider the Atlas Mayor, to be one of the greatest and most remarkable atlases ever produced, in terms of typographical standard, engraving and binding quality, which were of a high quality compared to this time.

The Dutch Republic, in the seventeenth century, also adopted the atlas as an official gift to kings and often in other diplomatic contacts.

The "Library Relics" includes the complete works of William Shakespeare, whose plays, such as Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet and Othello, are still shown from time to time around the world.

The London edition of 1632 is the first edition of the revised edition of Shakespeare's works and contains thirty-six of his plays.

The Library’s relics exhibition includes the first original edition of the volumes “Description of Egypt” issued by the Egyptian Committee for Sciences and Arts, an encyclopedic record of Egyptian antiquities and Egyptian history in the 18th century, which was printed in the years 1809-1828, and was written and compiled during the French campaign against Egypt for the French leader. Napoleon Bonaparte.

The volumes contain many drawings depicting Egypt, ancient and modern, in addition to reports on various topics such as language, agriculture, music and natural history. Exceptional, designed in mahogany in a style inspired by the work of the famous Parisian cabinetmaker Charles Morell.

The volumes describing Egypt are an encyclopedic record of Egyptian antiquities, natural history, and the state in the eighteenth century;

Where this work was researched and produced during the French military campaign against Egypt between 1798-1801, led by General Napoleon Bonaparte.

A team of hundreds of artists, scientists, sculptors, and other professionals accompanying the military expedition produced the encyclopedia.

In France, 34 volumes of Description of Egypt were produced, the first volume appearing in 1809, with production continuing until the last volumes, which appeared in 1829. The encyclopedia is considered one of the greatest achievements of French publishing, and a valuable historical record of Egypt in the eighteenth century.

The exhibition also includes a Qur’an from the Ottoman era that was printed in 1257 AH / 1841-1842 AD, and it is a large volume of Qur’an written in the rejuvenated Naskh script.

The facade of the Qur’an is decorated on both sides with floral drawings surrounding Surat Al-Fatihah and the beginning of Surat Al-Baqara, and around it are multicolored leafy decorations and gilded frames and edges, while the names of the chapters are written in white ink in Ijaz script on a gilded and ornate background.

The Qur’an was written in black ink and in the handwriting of Sayyid Ali Al-Naheef, and preserved in its original luxurious gilded leather.

The exhibition also includes a manuscript of the Lotus Sutra, chapter twenty-three, and “Previous Works of the King of Medicine Bodasaf” Kyoto 1636 CE. This manuscript, written in gold ink on indigo-dyed paper decorated with floral motifs in gold and silver, contains chapter twenty-third of the Lotus Sutra.

This was part of a set of twenty-eight scrolls commissioned by Japanese Emperor Go Mizuno (1611-1629 AD), or his daughter Empress Micho (1629-1643 AD), to commemorate the twenty-first anniversary of the death of the Shogun Tokugawa Ie-yasu (died 1616 AD) .

The scroll bears the emblem of the Tokugawa family, which ruled Japan and held the shogunate title between 1603 and 1867, and the Lotus Sutra was presented to Toshogu Shrine in Nikko for the first time in 1636, where I-Yasu was honored.

In the middle of the museum is a gold case set with emeralds, sapphires, and diamonds, measuring 30.6 cm x 11.7 cm, from the Deccan Sultanate in central India, late AH 10th / AD 16th century, which was designed to be fastened to the waist scarf.

Pliers of this kind had a symbolic significance used in the distribution of ranks, and were usually given to leading court officials, especially ministers.

Its structure is made of gold inlaid with precious stones, including diamonds, sapphires and emeralds. As for the inkwell, it is an artistic masterpiece characterized by a ribbed dome in the shape of a lotus bud, whose design was inspired by the architecture of the Deccan Sultanate, while the lower side of the incubator was decorated with a sacred bird known as "the whisper", which is a bird. Mythical watermark representing wisdom and the supreme spirit, at the end of which the inkwell is connected to two ribbed pen holders with openable ends.

The library is divided into 9 main libraries, next to vital facilities, theaters and various sectors. It contains one of the cultural and human wonders, which is the Library Treasures Exhibition, or what is known as "Library Relics." Thirteenth century AD.

The library aims to stimulate the passion for knowledge among all individuals, especially the youth category, and to preserve Arab literature, culture and heritage, by supporting and encouraging reading, research, creativity and entrepreneurship, through free access to a distinguished collection of books and other knowledge materials, in addition to providing high-quality information services and launching events Distinctive cultural.

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