Libraries · a Light

The world's oldest working library reopened in 2016

The library attached to the Qarawiyyin in Fez holds about four thousand manuscripts, among them a ninth century copy of Malik's Muwatta written on parchment and a fourteenth century copy of Ibn Khaldun's Muqaddimah. It has been in use since the medieval period, which makes it one of the oldest libraries anywhere still doing the job it was built for. By 2012 it had broken gutters, damp in the walls and a collection at risk. The restoration was led by Aziza Chaouni, a Canadian trained engineer and architect from Fez, who put in a new drainage system, solar panels and climate control for the manuscript room, and kept the old door of the manuscript room with its four locks, whose keys are held by four different people. It opened to readers again in 2016.

Fez, Morocco · restored 2012 to 2016