Latest News
- Opening Hours & Online Catalogue
- From Sunday 27th September 2009 till the 1st of April 2010 the library opening hours will be:
Sunday & Monday & Wednesday: 9 a.m. - 7 p.m.
Tuesday & Thursday: 9 a.m. - 2 p.m.
Friday: 10 a.m. - 3 p.m.
Closed on Saturday
Due to renovations of the institute, the library might be closed for some time during this period. Changes in the opening hours will be announced on the website.
Online Catalogue:
You can connect to our library catalogue through the net:www.nvic.org.eg
The eLIS librabry system was developed by the Cabinet, Information and Decision Support Center in Cairo.
The catalogue is still in an experimental phase so please send yout ccomments or suggestions of improvement to our librarian Anita Keizers.
- Storage of part of the library collection
- Due to the renovation parts of our book collection are put in storage outside the Institute. In January and February the basement collection of bounded volumes of periodicals and the first floor collection of Egyptology, Coptology and part of the Arabic Studies department were removed.
The main library area for Arabic Studies will follow in April. Until 1st of April the Arabic Studies library will be open for the public Sunday-Thursday from 9 a.m. till 2 p.m. (closed on Friday and Saturday). After that the whole library will be closed until the re-opening after the renovations.
- Coptic art in images
- By Mat Immerzeel - Leiden University
The library of the NVIC has recently received a large collection of scanned pictures of Coptic art objects, such as wall paintings in the desert monasteries (e.g. Deir Anba Antonius, Deir Anba Bula and the Wadi al-Natrun monasteries), and icons in the Coptic Museum and churches of Cairo. This unique image archive has been built up by the art historian Prof. Paul van Moorsel (1931-1999) of Leiden University and his successors, who have joined forces under the umbrella of the Paul van Moorsel Centre for Christian Art and Culture.
Paul van Moorsel is reputed for his pioneering studies about medieval wall paintings in Coptic monasteries and churches, and late Ottoman icons. In the course of time, his archive of slides and photographs of Christian art objects in Egypt increased considerably. After his death in 1999, this archive was bequeathed to the Netherlands Institute for the Near East in Leiden (NINO). Meanwhile, his successors had continued the fieldwork in the Middle East and, as a result, had a their own slide archive run by the Paul van Moorsel Centre, which was founded in 2000. Soon thereafter, the NINO and Paul van Moorsel Centre joined forces with the Index of Christian Art (ICA) of Princeton University to make both collections accessible to a wider interested public. This co-operation resulted in the scanning of a selection of relevant slides, which are now included in the ICA database and available for study in the offices of the NINO and the Paul van Moorsel Centre.
A third collection of slides and photographs was kept in the library of the NVIC. Since the space in the institute’s library is rather limited it was decided to transport these slide boxes and documentation maps to Leiden. In return, CDroms with all scans of Coptic art objects are now also available in the NVIC, allowing scholars working in Egypt to consult this material. The images are available for publication, but permission should be obtained from the Paul van Moorsel Centre.
- Emery's photo album
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The library of the NVIC started in 1971, when the Egyptological - Archaeological library of the late Professor W.B. Emery was acquired. Included in this library were several personal papers and pictures.
Lately we were informed that the Egypt Exploration Society is in possession of other personal items of Prof. Emery. For future research it seems appropriate to concentrate personal materials of Prof. Emery in one place so we decided to donate our items as a good addition to the archive of the EES library in London. Here it will be accessible for research for the international scientific community.
Our donation includes the following items:
- family pictures with Molly Emery and Emery himself;
- pictures of Dick Emery in e.g. Kenia, 1928 - ca. 1930;
- excavation pictures from Lybia (Germa, Zenkekra, pottery, architecture, inscriptions and jewelry);
- a copy of a manuscript by V.A. Padanyi;
- letters to W.B. Emery (invitations, lectures, dinnerparties);
- personal notes.
- Questionnaire
To get a better knowledge of special wishes concerning our book collection or the library service in general, we would appreciate it if you could fill out our questionnaire and send it to us. Please click here for the questionnaire.
The NVIC hopes to welcome you in the library!
General email: <info@nvic.net.eg>
Anita Keizers, Librarian
