Egyptian National Library and Archives
Egyptian National Library and Archives
The Egyptian National Library and Archives (Egyptian Arabic: دار الكتب والوثائق القومية; "Dar el-Kotob") is located in Nile Corniche, Cairo and is the largest library in Egypt, followed by Al-Azhar University and the Bibliotheca Alexandrina (New Library of Alexandria). The Egyptian National Library and Archives are a non-profit government organization.
The National Library houses several million volumes on a wide range of topics. It is one of the largest in the world with thousands of ancient collections. It contains a vast variety of Arabic-language and other Eastern manuscripts, the oldest in the world. The main library is a seven-story building in Ramlet Boulaq, a district of Cairo. The Egyptian National Archives are contained in an annex beside the building.
The National Archives, located in an annex beside the library, houses a vast and diverse collection. The holdings are particularly significant to those who work on Egyptian social and political history, although it is not open to the public.
History
The Egyptian National Library was proposed by minister Ali Pasha Mubarak, minister of public works, to Khedive Ismail in 1870.
The public source identifies “Egyptian National Library and Archives” as egyptian National Library and Archives. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Egyptian, National and Library.
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Maps, plans, fabric surveys and administrative records can establish how the site’s name, extent and function changed over time. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 23, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q2778411. VIAF identifies the subject as 151020750. The Library of Congress control number is n81032004. Authority coordinates are 30.066, 31.227. 2 of 5 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1870.
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This entry incorporates text from “Egyptian National Library and Archives” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.