Ahmed Baba Institute- Travel Tips

What to See, How to Plan & Tours

The Ahmed Baba Institute of Higher Learning and Islamic Research in Timbuktu, Mali, is a renowned library and research center established in 1973 with Kuwaiti funding. Named after the 17th-century scholar Ahmad Baba al Massufi, it houses around 20,000 manuscripts, including significant historical texts such as the Tarikh al-Sudan. These manuscripts cover diverse subjects like medicine, astronomy, and Islamic law, many of which date back to the 14th to 16th centuries. The institute's current building, completed in 2009, is equipped with climate control and fire protection systems to safeguard its invaluable collections. Despite the destruction during the 2013 conflict, efforts supported by UNESCO are ongoing to digitize and restore the manuscripts.