New blog post of the Gotha Research Library: From Cairo to Gotha and the Vatican. From Cairo to Gotha and the Vatican

The Gotha Research Library holds an important collection of fragments from early Qur’an manuscripts on parchment that were once preserved in the Mosque of ʿAmr b. al-ʿĀṣ (d. 664), governor of Egypt between 640 and 664. The Mosque was built in Fusṭāṭ, the ancient urban foundation located south of modern-day Cairo. Soldiers of the Arab army settled there in 641–642 when they conquered Egypt. ʿAmr b. al-ʿĀṣ founded the mosque that today bears his name.

In 1809, the German explorer Ulrich Jasper Seetzen (1767–1811) visited the mosque. He was shown a part of the mosque where the old unused manuscripts were kept in piles on the floor. Seetzen later claimed that he did not manage to buy the precious exemplar that he saw. Nevertheless, he sent some important Qur’an leaves to the Ducal Library in Gotha.