Conservationist says Arab history may be lost unless documentary heritage preserved

The trafficking of heritage materials can take different forms – from stealing from cultural heritage institutions, to looting archaeological sites, to smuggling and selling historical objects. And even worse, this trade is also often linked to money laundering and terrorism.

Maxim Nasra, Book Conservation Specialist in the Distinctive Collections department at Qatar National Library (QNL), which is located in the heart of Qatar Foundation’s Education City (EC), points out that the illegal trade in heritage materials is often of international nature, and so requires an international response – wherein international cooperation is the most effective way to protect documents and artefacts around the world.

Speaking about QNL’s Himaya project, the library’s latest initiative in the protection of documentary heritage, Nasra said: "We developed the idea of the Himaya project alongside a number of regional and global partners in order to combat the illicit trade of documentary heritage.

“Through the initiative, we aim to understand the characteristics of the illegal trade in documentary heritage to reduce the number of documents in illicit circulation and the hidden sales of artifacts – not only in the region but also around the world. For example, there are many families in the Arab world who keep manuscripts and artifacts that they inherit, passing them down from one generation to the next, and if we do nothing, a large part of the memory of Arab countries will be lost.

"To understand how to preserve documentary or cultural heritage, we must know what is meant by illicit trade – the motives and reasons, any illegal sales and purchases, smuggling, theft, and looting.”

Explaining QNL’s part in preserving the documentary heritage, Nasra said: "In our role of focusing on the documentary heritage, we are concerned with preserving it in the Arab world and Middle East region. The most illicit trade includes manuscripts and maps, which are rich in this area.

"Most Islamic manuscripts end up in public or private libraries in the Middle East, but we must be aware that the channels of illicit trade are different.”

QNL was selected in 2015 by the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions as the regional library maintenance center for libraries materials in the Arab and Middle East.

Through the Himaya project, QNL aims to develop the capabilities of those working in the industry, in the Middle East and the Arab world. They offer a large number of training courses, publishing technical documents, and content in Arabic to help preserve documentary heritage.

“We also aim to encourage the return and restitution of items to their legal owners, educate local communities about the issue of illegal trade, help law enforcement agencies, advocate due diligence for librarians, archivists, and museum curators, and encourage training for police and customs officers to be better warned and more informed about Islamic manuscripts.

According to Nasra, QNL also monitors auctions and social media sites regarding the sale of illegal and suspicious items, giving the library a better understanding of manuscript trafficking in the Middle East.

For example, books are small, and they are much easier to hide them from a customs officer than archaeological items. And the police are not being trained about documentary heritage, so it is very easy for a smuggler to say that it is his personal prayer book and the law enforcement officer will let him go due to the respect of traditions and religion, Nasra explains.

The main motives that make people trade these artifacts are for profit, but there are other reasons that differ from one place to another. In some conflict areas, a museum or library may be subjected to looting, like what has happened in many Arab countries.

One of the key aspects of the Himaya project is encouraging librarians to conduct due diligence in acquisitions, which includes making sure that an item is “clean” first. This includes checking origin, legal circulation, and exportation from the place it was kept originally, and ensure that it is not linked to trafficking, conflict, or terrorism.

In an ideal world, book dealers should follow such processes before selling items to libraries, according to Nasra. In 2018, QNL became one of the first libraries in Middle East and North Africa region to establish such procedures.

Nasra said: “The Himaya project is closely associated with a number of international organizations fighting against artifact trafficking, such as INTERPOL and the World Customs Organization. And with them we are working on various tools to help with lifelong learning among their officers.

“These include translating existing online courses for their staff into Arabic, Turkish, and Persian, developing specific tutorials about Islamic documentary heritage, organizing courses in various countries within the region, and producing easy-to-use tool kits to help them to identify Islamic manuscripts through comparing templates and models. It is also important that they are able to identify fake copies.

The production of forged pieces represents another challenge in order to mislead scientists who are trying to combat illegal trafficking. QNL has one of the most impressive scientific labs in the Middle East to analyze manuscripts, which enables them to detect fakes.