Kairouan Manuscript Project
The Centre for the Study of Manuscript Cultures-based Kairouan Manuscript Project (KMP) and its Tunisian partners – the National Heritage Institute in Tunis and the National Laboratory for the Preservation of Parchment and Manuscripts in Kairouan – are very grateful that the Mellon-funded grant project Hidden Stories: New Approaches to the Local and Global History of the Book has renewed its support of the KMP’s early-career conservator internship programme for four individuals working at the NLPCPM. Hidden Stories, a collaboration of the University of Toronto and the Institute for Advanced Study (Princeton, New Jersey), began supporting the internship programme in mid-2023. Previously, from mid-2021 to mid-2023, it was supported by the Barakat Trust.
The goals of the internship programme are to ensure that the NLPCPM’s soon-to-retire manuscript conservators, including its sole senior parchment conservator, are able to transfer their specialist skills and knowledge to the next generation of Tunisian manuscript conservators; to empower the interns to develop and implement sustainable and resilient strategies to preserve their country's written heritage; and to provide opportunities for them to network internationally through membership in international professional organisations and participation in international conferences.
The NLPCPM holds one of the largest collections of Islamic manuscripts in North Africa – and one of the most historically and intellectually significant anywhere in the world, especially for manuscripts dating to the 10th century CE or earlier. Assembled from Kairouan’s teaching mosque and other religious institutions, this collection represents a major scholarly legacy. The KMP is dedicated to facilitating and advancing the care, management, study, and promotion of this exceptional heritage.
Currently, the interns are Ms Radhia Mejbri, Ms Imen Rebhi, Mr Fahmi Romdhani, and Ms Kawther Zemzemi.
