On this day, March 23, 1870, Khedive Ismail (1863-1879) had a desire to establish “public box books” to collect the scattered books of mosques, endowments treasuries, and others. To preserve and preserve it from damage, Mubarak suggested to Khedive Ismail the establishment of a book house in the style of the National Library in Paris, where he admired it when he was sent within the mission that was sent to study military sciences in 1844.
According to what the official website of Dar al-Kutub says: Based on what he presented to Pasha Mubarak, Khedive Ismail issued Supreme Order No. 66 establishing the Kitabkhaneh on 20 Dhul-Hijjah 1286 AH (March 23, 1870 AD), in Saray Mustafa Fadel Pasha (brother of Khedive Ismail) in Darb al-Jamamiz to be its headquarters. Books have a field, and they have a overseer and service, and they have an indexer of Al-Azhar scholars responsible for Arabic books, and another is responsible for Turkish books, and a list has been organized for them and the foundations of their use have been established. The first nucleus of the Khedive’s book holdings was about thirty thousand volumes, which included precious books and manuscripts, collected from mosques, shrines, sanctuaries, and the libraries of the public works and schools.
Books began as a box in its early era in the year 1870 under the supervision of the “Diwan Al-Madras”, whose name was changed in 1875 to “The Public Knowledge Spectrum”, then “Ministry of Education” in 1915, then “Ministry of Education” in 1955, and in 1958 The affiliation of the Egyptian House of Books was transferred from the Ministry of Education to the Ministry of Culture and National Guidance, and it is still affiliated with the Ministry of Culture until now.
Dar al-Kutub took several official names: when it was established in 1870, its name was “Kutub Khana Khedive”, then “Khedive Book House” (1892-1914), then “Dar al-Kutub al-Sultaniyya” (1914-1922), then “Dar al-Kutub al-Royal” ( 1922 - 1927), then the Egyptian House of Books (1927 - 1966), then the "House of Books and National Documents" (1966 - 1971), then the "General Egyptian Book Authority" (1971 - 1993), and finally it was called the "General Authority of the House of Books and Documents" Nationalism” (1993 until now).
In the year 1880, the book was narrowed with its holdings, then it was moved in 1889 AD to the first floor (Salamlik), from the same palace. With the increase in the balance of the book box, Khedive Abbas Helmy II issued an order in the year 1896 to expropriate the land and allocate it to build the khedivial book box on it, but this project did not materialize. In the year 1899, Khedive Abbas Helmy II laid the foundation stone for a building that combines the Khedivial Kitabkhana and the House of Arab Antiquities (currently the Museum of Islamic Art) in Bab al-Khalq Square (later Ahmed Maher Square). The ground floor of the building was allocated to the House of Arab Antiquities, and the first floor had a separate entrance to the Khedivial Book House. On March 5, 1904, the bookshop opened its doors to the public.
The great development that Egypt experienced at the beginning of the twentieth century had its impact on the growth of the movement of authorship and translation in various aspects of human knowledge, even if in the year 1930 the stores of the House of Books were narrowed with various types of collectibles, and its employees and pioneers from the viewers, so the house took since that date demanding the establishment of a building A new thing that keeps pace with the global development in modern library systems at that time. In 1935, the choice was initially made on government land in the direction of Darb al-Jamamiz, and a site was chosen “in the first street under the quarter”; Because of its proximity to the place of the house at the time, which was famous for it. In 1938, the council decided that the best place to build Dar al-Kutub is the land of the Ismailia Saray, and decided in March of the same year to launch an international competition to develop the necessary designs for the new building. A copy of the letter from the Department of State Buildings to the Ministry of Works requesting an appropriation of an amount of one hundred and fifty thousand pounds; To be able to start implementing the new building. In July 1938, the Minister of Education - Muhammad Hussein Heikal Pasha - wrote to the Ministry of Finance requesting allocating a part of the appropriation included in 1938 in the budget of the Buildings Department to start the new building of Dar al-Kutub. The plan was set for construction to begin in 1939, but the outbreak of World War II impeded the start of construction.
In 1959, Tharwat Okasha, Minister of Culture and Chairman of the Supreme Council of Dar al-Kutub, demanded, at that time, to finance the project for the new building of the house, from the proceeds of the house's endowments.
On July 23, 1961, the foundation stone of the new building was laid on the Nile Corniche in Ramlet Bulaq, and the balance of the house and staff began to be transferred to the new building gradually from 1971 to 1978, despite the fact that the building was not completed; The House of Historical Documents and the Central Library moved from Abdeen Palace to Bab Al-Khalq building.
Although this building was originally allocated to the Egyptian House of Books, its scientific centers and its attached printing press, when it was opened, it was practically not allocated to the House of Books. The eighth of October 1979, and since that time this new building became known as the "Egyptian General Book Authority", until the issuance of Presidential Decree No. (176) for the year 1993 AD establishing the "General Authority of the National Library and Documentation House, which is currently occupying the following buildings and facilities: The historical building of the Dar al-Kutub in Bab al-Khalq, the building of the General Authority of the National Library and Documentation House on the Nile Corniche, the authority’s stores building on the coast of Rod al-Farag (Al-Mobaida), the buildings of subsidiary libraries are distributed throughout Greater Cairo.
Thu, Mar. 24, 2022
