Sitting at the gates of the Sahara desert, Timbuktu conjures up images of a mythical city at the end of the world, where Arab and African merchants traveled far and wide to trade salt, gold, livestock and grain. In the English language, the city in northern Mali has become a distant place. Undaunted, the caravans still travel the route through the desert and come to town several times a year. They carry rock salt mined from the northern Sahara, just as their ancestors did for centuries.
At its peak in the 16th century, the city had a population of 100,000, as its mosques and holy sites played a vital role in the spread of Islam in Africa. The city has become an important center of learning in Africa and its libraries hold at least 700,000 historical manuscripts on art, science and medicine, as well as copies of the Quran. These manuscripts, written with richly decorated calligraphy, bear witness to the richness of African history and intellectual life.
During the 2012-2013 conflict, more than 4,000 of the 40,000 manuscripts kept at the Ahmed Baba Institute were lost. Some were burned or robbed, while more than 10,000 remained in critical condition. The people of Timbuktu helped save their precious heritage by secretly taking more than 300,000 manuscripts to the capital, Bamako. Other texts were sheltered between mud walls or buried. Although protected from immediate destruction, the manuscripts are now preserved in conditions that may not protect them for future generations.
To help preserve Timbuktu’s cultural heritage and encourage reconciliation, UNESCO has supported local communities to participate in projects to conserve ancient manuscripts and ensure their lasting preservation for humanity.
UNESCO coordinated the reconstruction work on the fourteen mausoleums inscribed on the World Heritage List, as well as the Djingareyber and Sidi Yaha mosques, deliberately destroyed by armed groups during the conflict.
