Museum sights in Timbuktu (Tombouctou)
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Centre de Recherches Historiques Ahmed Baba
An amazing collection of ancient manuscripts and books are kept at the Centre de Recherches Historiques Ahmed Baba. Home to (at last count) 23,000 Islamic religious, historical and scientific texts from all over the world, the centre is the focus of a South African-funded project to protect, translate and catalogue the manuscripts.
The oldest manuscripts date from the 12th century, but there are countless other priceless works, including some of the few written histories of Africa's great empires, and works of scholarship carried to Timbuktu from Granada after Muslims were expelled from al-Andalus in 1492. Documented family histories (often over 400 years old) of Timbuktu…
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Ethnological Museum
The Ethnological Museum occupies a hugely significant site near Sidi Yahiya Mosque, containing the well of Bouctou, where Timbuktu was founded. There's also a variety of exhibits including clothing, musical instruments, jewellery and games, as well as interesting colonial photographs and pictures of the ancient rock carvings at Tin-Techoun, which have since been stolen or destroyed.
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