Libraries to visit Sahara

There are several private libraries in Chinguetti, all of which contain magnificent manuscripts, some of which are over 1,000 years old. These exceptionally calligraphic documents were used by scholars who studied and taught here, while others accompanied the faithful on their way to Mecca. There are an estimated 3,000 books in Chinguetti, mostly religious, divided into 12 collections.

One can visit some of these libraries, such as Ahel Alamane. One of the most representative is certainly that of the Melaïnine family, with a museum full of utilitarian objects of the time, which adjoins this library. Also worth seeing is that of the Al-Ahmed Mahmoud Foundation, which proudly displays its motto: "Knowledge is the only wealth that can be distributed without the risk of ruin." With a little luck, the owner of the place will give you a little lecture that he has the secret of in the inner courtyard. He will evoke the history, the big one, with the origin of the name Mauritania (born in 1899), but also the small one, as when 32 000 camels of a caravan passed in only one day in Chinguetti. He will also describe the objects gathered in the courtyard, such as millstones, mortars, an impluvium.

In the end, he will unveil some of his nuggets on paper, such as old Korans with illuminations, which he will take out of a dusty cupboard, but with gloves on. A strong experience, where humor is not absent!

This documentation centre bears the name of the most famous and prolific intellectual in Timbuktu. There are more than fifteen thousand manuscripts, the oldest of which dates back to 1241. These are carefully restored and archived before being consulted by scholarly researchers. Traités theological treaties, books of mathematics, astronomy, science, philosophical thinking, this library contains universal knowledge. These fragile documents shed light on the new history of the entire region.

Like Ouadane, Oualata and Chinguetti, Tichitt is full of century-old manuscripts with delicate illuminations, witnesses of a past and splendid period, during which the religious studied Islam, sciences and other fields, in the greatest seriousness. You can visit one of these libraries, modest in appearance but containing treasures of calligraphy, preserved with great difficulty for centuries. A guard will put on thick gloves before gently manipulating the pages of these manuscripts before your amazed eyes.

Like the three other ancient cities of Mauritania, Ouadane, Chinguetti and Tichitt, Oualata is home to treasures in its library, preserved by chance and with care by the inhabitants through time, sometimes with the means at hand! In the room to the right are old manuscripts belonging to the four families of Oualata. Opposite is the library of Taleb Boubekar, traditional chief of the city, who died around 1915. This library is full of centuries old writings, vestiges of another time.

Several private libraries exist in Ouadane. You will discover there superb manuscripts. One of the most interesting is certainly that of Sidi Mohamed Ould Abidin Sidi (✆ +222 44 95 52 10). He likes to repeat that the conservation of these treasures faces many obstacles, the first of which is himself! So there is no reason to blame him for showing only manuscripts that are only 2 or 3 centuries old: he has the rightness of mind to keep the oldest ones safe, to show them only to researchers. Who can blame him?