Dar al-Kutub began in 1870 as a project to collect and preserve books and manuscripts, moving to its historic Bab al-Khalq building in 1904. The building links the national library’s history with the Museum of Islamic Art housed in another part, while the library museum opens a window onto written heritage.
Manuscripts, Qur’ans, papyri and works of science and literature show writing as both knowledge and craft. Look at the page itself: script, ornament, binding and the arrangement of text. A book becomes a physical record of the people who made, used and preserved it.
