The Digital Production

The Center aims at producing digital publications on handwritings and calligraphies from all over the world. This digital production series aims to use technology to make Calligraphy Center a reference point in digital heritage on distinguished Calligraphies, writings and inscription collection. The employment of the newest and the most modern techniques in this highly specialized field in intellectual, cultural and social activities will help the Calligraphy Center to achieve a unique position among the institutions in the region and the world.

Preservation of heritage is a priority at Calligraphy Center for its own unique collection of Calligraphies, inscriptions and writings. It is driven by the desire to revive and expose the unknown areas in the national and international heritage and therefore, the Calligraphy Center had initiated the ambitious project, which aims at making a digital production of the unpublished writings that have been neglected for a long time.

The primary long-term goal is to create a first electronic library of Calligraphies, inscriptions and writings. Libraries have played a vital role in the advancement of human society. Unfortunately, libraries are distributed around the world and within each country. As societal advance depends on students and researchers having access to books via libraries and other means, the principal benefit of the Electronic Library of Calligraphies, inscriptions and writings, will be to spread and increase the cultural awareness of national and international heritage, by consequence this will supplement the education system by making knowledge available to anyone who can read and has access. This impact will be further enhanced given the convenience of online access, and the benefit of full text searching at word and phrase levels. This large knowledge repository will revolutionize research at all levels of education and research, and will give a much-needed boost at minimal cost to the national and international research database.

In addition, such project has the potential to change how research conducted in much of the world. Further, the fact that most of newly published material is already in digital format will enable to incorporate them into the collection directly, through collaboration with the publishers. The project will be a public good and such as must have a suitable repository that will continue to make it available to the public at reasonable charge. The responsibility belongs most clearly to the national library, universities, museums and research institutions in each country.

The Center's first production was a CD containing the best Arabic Calligraphies. It was produced in co-operation with Zaid Center for Heritage.

The Center is also preparing CDs on:

1.Ancient Egyptian Language C.D

To The TopThis C.D will be mainly educational, feeding the specialists and non-specialists. The C.D will include information about the development of the writing and the decipherment of Ancient Egyptian Language. In addition, the C.D will include a brief informative encyclopedia of sociological, geographical and political aspects of Ancient Egypt. A special section will be devoted to the kids.

Objectives:

2. Cairo 's Monumental Epigraphy C.D.

(In collaboration with American University )

To The TopThe project involves recording, transcribing and translating the unpublished inscriptions in pre-1800 monuments in Cairo . In addition a sample of published inscriptions will be photographed, and those that are in serious danger from water table damage will be recorded completely. There are approximately 514 monuments such monuments that contain inscriptions. This is a matter of urgency, as many monuments are in a rapidly deteriorating state. Even before the damage caused by the earthquake of October 12, 1992, the situation had become critical because of the rising water table (UNESCO, 1980). The limestone of which the monuments of Cairo are built is porous. Water is sucked gradually upwards, and the salts within it crystallize on the exterior of the stone and cause it to become friable. The watermark visible on many buildings has now reached a height of 3-5m, where it could cause the destruction of all decorative details below this level if no conservation measures are taken. Among the greatest loss in this respect would be the inscriptions, which are found on almost every monument. They are valuable not only for their very considerable artistic content, but also for the important historical, paleographic and philological information, which they contain.