Explore the new Middle Eastern Library, Listen to speed lectures by experts, watch a brand new documentary about the restoration of an 11th-century medical manuscript from Samarkand and more. Experience the richness and diversity of Leiden's Middle Eastern collections up close on Wednesday 25 September at the Middle Eastern Library and University Library in Leiden.

The richly varied programme of the Evening of the Middle Eastern Collections & Middle Eastern Library includes speed lectures by authors of the new book Prophets, Poets and Scholars. The Collections of the Middle Eastern Library of Leiden University. This new book, which shows the richness and diversity of our Eastern collections, will also be available during the event. Visitors can view the rarest and most special objects from the Leiden collections up close in a large pop-up exhibition. Our curators and other experts will be present to answer any questions about these ancient objects. Two banner exhibitions on early photography in the Middle East and the ancient Epic of Gilgamesh will be on display in the two halls of the University Library. Our new video series on the Middle Eastern collections and the documentary on the restoration of the Materia Medica will also premiere. The Materia Medica is an exceptionally important 11th-century medical manuscript and one of our top pieces from the Middle Eastern collections that was recently fully restored. Library staff will be providing guided tours of the new Middle Eastern Library throughout the evening.

Please note: the entire programme will be in Dutch.

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Two volumes of ‘Book of Knowledge of Ingenious Devices’ (Kitab fi Maʿrifat al-Hiyal al-Handasiyah) by Ismaʿil ibn al-Razzaz al-Jazari (1136-1206) [UBL Or. 117, f. 59b].

Meccan doctor ‘Abd al-Ghaffār (Student of photography and associate of Christiaan Snouck Hurgronje), Al-ṣalāh ḥawl al-Kaʿbah (Prayer around the Kaäba, primary destination of the Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca), between 1886-1889, albumine print, [Or. 26.367: 4]

Special Collections

The Middle Eastern Special Collections are a famous and important part of the heritage collections of Leiden University Libraries. Valuable manuscripts, old printed books, photographs, archives and audiovisual materials reflect half a millennium of scientific contact with a world outside Western culture. A culture that was barely understood, often regarded as hostile but nevertheless always inspired and fascinated.

In terms of science, the collections are not only a rich source of original materials from the Middle East, but they also provide a wealth of information about the development of the Western scientific tradition on the region during the periods of humanism, mercantile expansion, the Enlightenment and colonialism.

The collections of the library of the Netherlands Institute for the Near East (NINO), including the famous collection of clay tablets by Prof. Dr. De Liagre Böhl, are kept in the Leiden Special Collections and have been available for consultation in Leiden University Library since 2024.

Middle Eastern Library

In the new Middle Eastern Library, Leiden University Libraries brings together the rich Special Collections, ranging from manuscripts and rare books about the Islamic, Hebrew, Semitic and Armenian world, collections about Egyptology, Assyriology and the Ancient Near East, together with the modern collections about the entire Middle East region and Islam. The Middle Eastern Library will be housed in the Herta Mohr building next to the University Library and will be opened at the beginning of the 2024-2025 academic year. To celebrate the new library, activities for the interested public are organized from April to October 2024.

Study places in the new Middle Eastern Library

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