Thread by @incunabula

The desert libraries of Timbuktu are well known, and have been the subject of global concern. Almost all the manuscripts have now been removed to Bamako. But there's another, largely forgotten ancient desert library in neighbouring Mauritania, in the ghost town of Chinguetti. 1/7

Most of Chinguetti consists of abandoned houses which are being swallowed up by the ever encroaching dunes of the Sahara. But this was once a prosperous city of 20 000 people, and a medieval centre for religious and legal scholars. It was known as "The City of Libraries". 2/7

Behind the mud walls of the few still inhabited houses are 6000 manuscripts, some dating back to the 9th century. As recently as the 1950s, Chinguetti was home to 30 family-owned libraries, but today there remain just six, catering to scholars and occasional visitors. 3/7

The largest library, with around 1400 manuscripts, belongs to the Habbot family. They have had assistance from professional conservators, and the books are catalogued and stored within cardboard sleeves on metal shelves. 4/7

But most Chinguetti libraries retain the unaltered look of the medieval era in which they were first built, storing the manuscripts on stone or mud shelving, vulnerable to environmental deterioration, particularly the frequent dust-clouds & sandstorms which batter Chinguetti. 5/7

UNESCO has designated Chinguetti a World Heritage Site. But the survival of the libraries depends on attracting visitors, especially tourists. Unfortunately both US & UK governments advise against travel to this part of Mauritania due to the risks of kidnapping and terrorism. 6/7

Their have been efforts to bring the books to the capital Nouakchott. But the custodian families are reluctant to lose control of the treasures they have guarded for generations. Absent an improvement in the security situation, the future of Chinguetti is uncertain and bleak. 7/7

HT messynessychic.com/2014/05/14/the… for the photos.

For more on Chinguetti and the Habbot family library, see this 2010 Guardian article, translated from Le Monde.
theguardian.com/world/2010/jul…

For a very informative longer read, see Graziano Krätli's "The Book and the Sand: Restoring and Preserving the Ancient Desert Libraries of Mauritania", which you can download as a PDF here:
citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/downlo…

This is the Al Ahmed Mahmoud Library in Chinguetti.

The Bibliotheque Habott in Chinguetti.

Chinguetti is located at the end of a 600km road from Nouakchott, right at the edge of the trackless and almost uninhabited Sahara. The even smaller and more remote town to the north-east of Chinguetti, Ouadane, also has ancient libraries, about which I hope to write more later.

A rather wonderful story from the 15th century Saharan libraries of Ouadane...

93km northeast of Chinguetti, Ouadane was founded in 1329. In its heyday, in the 16th and 17th centuries, Ouadane was the largest oasis in the area with a population of around 5000, including a small Jewish quarter, where the Star of David remains inscribed above a doorway.

These photos come from this wonderful photo-essay of a visit to Mauritania:
m1key.me/photography/ma…