Founder Hajj Raghib Al-Khalidi preserved the rich collection of books and manuscripts his family had assembled over many generations.
The original building was built in 1389.
The library, known in Arabic as Al-Maktaba Al-Khalidiyya, was established in the Old City of Jerusalem in Tariq Bab Al-Silsilah near the Bab Al-Silsilah, one of the main gates to Al-Haram Al-Sharif — also known as Temple Mount — home of Al-Aqsa Mosque.
It contains one of the world’s biggest private collections of Arabic manuscripts (approximately 1,200 titles), the oldest of which is about 1,000 years old. Among them are about 200 extremely rare Islamic texts, many of them intricately decorated with geometric motifs in colored ink.
The Khalidis claim to trace their ancestry to the early Muslim conqueror Khalid ibn Al-Walid, who died in 642. A family called Khalidi was documented in Jerusalem in the 11th century. The best attested family lineage, however, dates back to the 14th and 15th centuries during the Mamluk Empire.
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KHALIDI LIBRARY MILESTONES
- 1389 – The Mamluk-era building is constructed.
- 1900 – Raghib Al-Khalidi establishes library.
- 1967 – East Jerusalem is annexed by Israel.
- 1989 – Friends of the Khalidi Library is incorporated.
source: Arab News (arabnews.com)
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JERUSALEM, Old City