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Czechs saving old Iraqi Kurdistan prints
3.8.2006 |
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Prague, (CTK) -
Restorers from the National Archives spent six weeks
at a university in Kurdistan in Iraq where they
helped save priceless prints of the Iraqi national
library, head of the department for records of the
Czech National Archives Michal Durovic told CTK
today.
Old books and manuscripts had been seriously damaged
in two fires probably set by Saddam Hussein's secret
services. Hussein allegedly wanted to get rid of
incriminating evidence also stored in the building.
The prints were also damaged when the fire was
extinguished. In this case, the experience of Czech
restorers acquired during the 2002 devastating
floods in the Czech Republic was employed, Durovic
said.
At first, the group of Czech experts and staff of
the firm Gema Art Group were to work directly in
Bagdad. However, for safety reasons, they
established a makeshift working center at Salahaddin
University in Erbil.
For the seven million crowns allocated for the
purpose by the Czech government, three Czech experts
helped save the documents and trained Iraqi
restorers. A lorry loaded with modern equipments and
chemicals for the work was driven from the Czech
Republic, Durovic said.
The Czech staff returned in late July. The
laboratory they left at the university will now be
dismantled and driven to Bagdad. There are 156 metal
crates with documents flooded when the fire at the
burning library was extinguished, Durovic said.
Like in the 2002 flood in the Czech Republic, the
local archives staff froze the documents and they
are preparing their conservation, Durovic said.
"The local archivists realise the price of their
documents, but they are unable to handle them,"
Durovic said.
"They opened before us a 700-years-old Koran. While
we put on white gloves in order to touch the
priceless books, they starting leafing it through
with cigarettes in their hands," Durovic said.
Iraq and the university have appreciated the Czech
aid. Saddam Hussein allegedly banned the teaching of
history, archaeology and ancient languages at the
university, situated in Kurdistan.
A part of the "students" of the Czech team have
acquired the restoring skills. In 2004, 12 Iraqis
passed restorer courses in the Czech Republic.
Last year, the Czech government donated a fully
equipped micrographic center to the library, the
only of its kind in Iraq. It can photograph and
preserve precious documents that might fall apart
before they are restored.
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