The oldest library in the world, opened for the public

After four years of restoration, the oldest functional library in the world was opened for the public. The library was restored by a Canadian architect and holds 4,000 manuscripts, including the laws of the Koran and the Islam description of the ancient legal system.

Located in Fez, Morocco, Al-Qarawiyyin library belongs to the oldest university in the world, opened in 859. The library has been renovated several times, but in 2012, the famous Canadian architect Aziza Chaouni decided to restore it. Chaouni, originally from Fez, says she had not heard of the library before she was enlisted by the Moroccan Culture Ministry in 2012 to take charge of its restoration, which suffered from the climate and humidity over the years.

“Throughout the years, the library underwent much rehabilitation, but it still suffered from major structural problems, a lack of insulation, and infrastructural deficiencies like a blocked drainage system, broken tiles, cracked wood beams, exposed electric wires, and so on,” says Chaouni on TED.com.

Available in the past only for the academia, the university can now be visited also by the general public. Al-Qarawiyyin owns about 4,000 manuscripts, one of them of immeasurable importance. One can find there the chapters of the Qur'an, dating from the ninth century, writings on and about the Kufic calligraphy and the oldest descriptions of the life of Prophet Muhammad.

Al-Qarawiyyin was founded by Fatima El-Fihriya in 859 - in the period in which algebra was first discovered. Currently, the institution still owns the ancient diploma received as gratitude for their support.

The most treasured book in the library is a Qur'an dating from the ninth century, in its original state. It is the oldest work in the entire collection.

Today, the University of Al Qarawiyyin has moved away to another part of Fez, but the mosque and the library remain at the ancient complex.