Timbuktu
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management of the building site before and after the war. The manuscripts, however, have <br />
their own narrative which is not so widely documented, because they had not been part of <br />
the UNESCO World Heritage Site. But the website of the manuscripts' remote curatorial <br />
place at the University of Hamburg gives some indications what has been done with them <br />
and how they are managed. <br />
1. Before the war <br />
Conservation, utilisation and management of the World Heritage Site before the war <br />
was directed first and foremost to get the site out of danger created by the climate. Since <br />
1990 until 2005, UNESCO had put the <strong>Timbuktu</strong> site on their list of World Heritage in danger: <br />
the report of 1996 states that "the Mosques of <strong>Timbuktu</strong> are made of fragile materials which <br />
are regularly threatened by rare but violent bad weather and have only survived several <br />
centuries due to the annual maintenance carried out by the local population, under the <br />
direction of the Imman and the responsibility of the corporation of masons, and with <br />
funding from the wealthy personalities of the town for the more costly works." Both <br />
negligence by UNESCO, and also its over-‐ambition could threaten the local traditions and <br />
lead to the destruction of the mosques. <br />
A workshop in 1996 was able to connect the international UNESCO conservation teams <br />
with the local groups and their imam. The workshop had the goal to show to the UNESCO <br />
officials the old techniques of conservation and was the basis of a future conservation plan <br />
for the site. (https://whc.UNESCO.org/en/soc/2113). In 2003, the UNESCO report on <br />
<strong>Timbuktu</strong> was very positive, declaring that the danger issues such as sand encroachment, <br />
lack of financial resources, deterioration of the rainwater drainage syste and the need for <br />
appropriate law have all been resolved. (https://whc.UNESCO.org/en/soc/2680) In 2005, the <br />
heritage site was taken off the UNESCO List of World Heritage in Danger, after a <br />
Governmental conservation heritage plan had been accepted. <br />
(https://whc.UNESCO.org/en/soc/1243) <br />
UNESCO officials complained in later reports up to 2012 that the state allowed the <br />
Ahmad-‐Baba-‐Museum, a new building of the 1974 created Ahmad Baba Institute of Higher <br />
Learning and Islamic Research to be build in the direct vicinity of the Sankore mosque, thus <br />
changing the surroundings of the mosque from their original structure. It is here that a <br />
general city heritage management plan would have been of advantage to connect <br />
stakeholders with interest in the buildin site with those with interest in the manuscripts and <br />
scholarship (displayed by the Ahmad-‐Baba-‐Museum), wich however did not exist. <br />
(https://whc.UNESCO.org/en/soc/1161) The interests of UNESCO were overwritten by the <br />
interests of the Presidents of Mali and South Africa to build the Ahmad-‐Baba-‐Museum <br />
directly on the old university site at the Sankore mosque to house and display the old <br />
manuscripts, and for welcoming researchers worldwide. (This is the first time that the <br />
reports mentioning attention to tourism and utilization of the site, however with a critical <br />
undertone!)