Rare medical, astronomical manuscripts found at Dar al-Kotob

State Information Service

A number of rare and invaluable medical and astronomical manuscripts have been found at the National Library of Egypt (also known as Dar al-Kotob).

A senior official at Alexandria Library said Saturday that the ancient documents were just laying there in the forgotten Dar al-Kotob achieves for many years but thanks to his Centre for Documentation of Cultural and Natural Heritage (CULTNAT) they were "technically rediscovered".

"they are really priceless." The medical papers give prescription of the treatment of some chronic diseases, bone fractures and bruises and lessons in body and eye anatomy, CULTNAT chief Fathi Saleh said.

The other manuscripts that are of the possessions of the al-Azhar Library are about astronomy and time measurement and they date back to the golden years of the ancient Arab and Islamic civilizations, he said.

Saleh said CULTNAT has already started implementing an integrated project to establish the first expanded and encyclopedic e-library to register the rare collection of manuscripts at the Dar al-Kotob - nearly decrees dating back to the Mameluke era.