the documents on display, although they did sustain some damage. Contents Collections include a wide variety of manuscripts of the Qur'an, written on paper and parchment. Some of which date back to early Kufic script. Others are written by celebrated calligraphers. Of Egyptian Islamic materials, there is perhaps the outstanding collection of illuminated manuscripts of the Qur'an in the Mamluk text-hand, and in Trilinear and Rayhani hands. There are also collections of Arabic papyri from different sites in Egypt, some dating to the 7th century AD or earlier. The library is a mine of information on early Islamic Egypt's social and cultural life. Ancient Persian and Ottoman documents are also part of the collection. The library remains Egypt's largest resource of manuscripts and documents that include more than 57,000 of the most valuable manuscripts in the world. The manuscript collection covers a vast number of subjects, fully documented, dated, and compiled. It also houses a rare number of Arabic papyri. These are related to marriage, rent, and exchange contracts, as well as records, accounts of taxes, distribution of inheritance, etc. The oldest papyrus group dates back to the year AH 87 (AD 705); only 444 papyri from this collection were published. The library also has a large collection of medieval Arabic coins from as early as AD 696, which were published by Stanley Lane-Poole, Bernhardt Moritz and recently by Norman D. Nicol, Jere L. Bacharach and Rifa'at al-Nabarawy in 1982. These collections are of high archeological value. Collections formed by Ahmed Taymour Pasha, Ahmed Zaki Pasha, Ahmed Tal'aat Bey and Mustafa Fadel all came to the National Library in the early 20th century. See also Library of Alexandria National Archives of Egypt Unesco Memory of the World Register – Arab States References Catalogues Moritz, Bernhardt: "Additions à la collection numismatique de la Bibliothèque Khédiviale". In: Bulletin de l'Institut Egyptien; 4e sér. 4 (1903), pp. 199–204. Nicol, Norman D.; el-Nabarawy, R. & Bacharach, J. L.: Catalog of the Islamic Coins, Glass Weights, Dies and Medals in the Egyptian National Library, Cairo. Malibu, California 1983. Bibliography (Includes information about the national library) External links Official website Museum of the National Library of Egypt Official Facebook page for the library's museum space. Archives in Egypt Libraries in Egypt Culture in Cairo Historiography of Islam Middle Eastern culture Government agencies established in 1870 Buildings and structures in Cairo Egypt Egypt World Digital Library partners