Egypt has lost a significant part of its cultural heritage after manuscripts and up to 200,000 books fell victim to a fire in the richest library of the Egyptian Scientific Institute in capital Cairo.

Cairo / NationalTurk – An important part of Egypt’s “national treasure” and “rare history” is gone by the fire, Egyptian prime minister stated. Egyptian state television announced that the fire damaged the whole Egyptian Scientific Institute building and all its collections at the great Library . The total damage still remains to be determined. Egyptians try to collect burnt manuscripts from the destroyed Institute of Egypt in central Cairo.

The fire started on Saturday after protesters threw Molotov cocktails into the neighboring Shura Council building. The fire spread to the museum and although the flames were eventually extinguished, firefighters took a long time to arrive at the site and get the fire under control.

Egypt culture took a hit by the fire at L’Institute d’Egypte

The fire destroyed or damaged rare maps and historical documents, including a first edition copy of the Description de l’Egypte, started under supervision of Napoleon Bonaparte  by French scientists, which had been carefully stored and preserved for over 2 centuries.

The institute was established as L’Institute d’Egypte in August 1798 by Napoleon Bonaparte, and is considered to be the oldest one in Egypt. Its library held over 200,000 volumes including irreplaceable historic manuscripts, which have perished substantially now.

Egypt Riots and Violence continue

The violence in Egypt has been continuing in Cairo as hundreds of Egyptian police in riot gear sweep through Tahrir Square and open fire on protesters, killing at least three. The overall death toll from the recent clashes has reached 14, Egypt’s Health Ministry declared. But witnesses say they saw six killed by gunshots on Monday alone, which if true would raise the death toll even higher.

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