MEMORY OF THE WORLD PROGRAMME
PROJECT DESCRIPTION FORM
IDENTIFICATION
1. Title of Project including name of documentary heritage
ETHIOPIAN MANUSCRIPTS AND THEIR ORAL COMMENTARIES: AN ANTIQUE TRADITION AT THE EDGE OF VIRTUAL
ERA
Box reserved for MoW
2. Brief statement about the significance of documentary heritage
Secretariat
Ethiopia has a long history of record keeping. Christianity became the state's Country :
religion during the 4th Century A.D. and at this time, ge'ez, the ancient Ethiopian Date
:
language, began to be written with sud-arabic script.
Code
:
The earliest literary records consist of epigraphic inscriptions, written on hard
surfaces. Then the oldest parchment manuscripts could be dated from the 10th
century, even if until now, dating manuscripts prior to the 13th century remains
hypothetical. Until very recent times, traditional bookmaking was largely spread
in Ethiopia. This written heritage displays a rich variety of texts (religion, history,
astrology, calendars, traditional medicine, laws, diplomacy, etc.). Manuscripts
contain, often bound together in the same volume, archival materials and
religious texts. Ge'ez has been used exclusively until the 18th century, then
Amharic, the vernacular language, replaced ge'ez as far as non religious texts
were concerned.
Some manuscripts contain also paintings, often of a great historical and esthetical
value.
It is estimated that the country possesses more than half a million manuscript
documents, found to be dispersed in about 20 000 monasteries and churches and
number of mosques throughout the country. Not to forget indeed some Arabic
manuscripts in the eastern regions of Ethiopia, mainly preserved in private
libraries in Harrar.
Furthermore, some of the most precious Christian manuscripts belong to western
collections, the British Library's and the French National Library's being the most
valuable ones.
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3. Present physical state of the documentary heritage / 4. Extent to which it is endangered
Physical states of this documentary heritage differ according to places and media.

NATIONAL ARCHIVES AND LIBRARY OF ETHIOPIA (NALE) : MANUSCRIPTS AND MICROFILMS1
3. Manuscripts' section preserves 835 manuscripts, most of them on parchment. Three of them belong to
the Memory of the World's register since 20012. They are preserved in a fire-proof room, in correct
conditions. Nonetheless, in 2005, a new building will provide better means for the preservation of those
volumes, providing any required modern tools.
This section keeps also, in the microfilms department, some 10 000 microfilmed manuscripts. Most of
them belong to the Ethiopian Manuscripts Microfilm Library (EMML), a joint program of the Hill
Monastic Microfilms Library and the NALE, who microfilmed during the 1970's and 1980's some of the
most important monastic libraries of the Highlands and of Addis Abeba.
4. NALE manuscripts and microfilms will be transferred in the new building. Microfilms are now suffering from
lack of appropriate preservation conditions. For instance, during the rainy season, the cellulose films become
sticky. An expertise is necessary to evaluate the chemical stability of this material. Furthermore, the microfilms'
department lacks equipment to provide a sufficient service to readers.

RELIGIOUS INSTITUTIONS IN ETHIOPIA: MANUSCRIPTS AND ORAL TRADITIONS
Written memory :
3. Half a million of codices are preserved in monastic libraries. The physical condition of those volumes
is depending from their age and from the intensity of their use, and also from each institution's specific
history. Traditional preservation techniques have guaranteed those items against rodents and climatic
variations - there is a two months rainy season in Ethiopia, but mountain's climate offers a narrow
temperature's scale, from 5 to 25 ° Celsius. Manuscripts are kept in libraries' rooms built with stones and
cob which provide a constant temperature. The books are kept in a double leather jacket and stored
carefully. Each institution designates one librarian and one book keeper and above them, an elected board
cares for the management of the collection and determines acquisition's policy.
4. The real threat on those volumes does not lay on physical conditions of preservation. Traditional
book keeping could be sufficient to maintain monastic collections. But international trade of southern
countries' patrimony is a strong menace for the integrity of this patrimony. Ethiopian manuscripts have
now an important place in this lucrative business, and at the same time are now well known in the
international cultural stage. Rural priests can hardly fight against the power of the huge amount of
money generated by this business. Some Ethiopian national projects were planned for collecting this
patrimony belonging to the Church, and for depositing it in national collections. But the Church cannot
accept those solutions, partly because manuscripts are still used in the daily liturgy and safeguard the
historical memory of each church and monastery. Moreover, there is no guarantee that manuscripts will
be safer in regional libraries than in the numerous traditional and religious libraries to whom they
belong.
A precise, comprehensive and accessible inventory would be the first way to fight against the dispersion
of those volumes. Then, to follow on the microfilms' campaign, by microfilming or digitizing manuscripts
in situ, would be an appropriate answer to those problems.
1
http://www.nale.gov.et
N°132, Holy Week lectionary, 15th c. ; n°27, Epistles of Saint Paul, 15 th c. ; n°28, the very famous gospel of Täsfana Krestos of
Hayq, from the 14th c.
2
3
Oral memory
3. Religious institutions preserved different kinds of knowledge : local and regional history has been
transmitted orally by clergy and intellectuals. The manuscripts of one church keep historical documents
but, most of the time, those written documents are standardized and elliptical. A good part of the memory
of political and religious institutions has been transmitted orally, in a very formal way and being
matching written sources. This intangible heritage has not been studied yet by scholars and curators
because the wide range of written document has occulted the very existence of this oral tradition.
4. Those traditions remain alive until 1974, when the fall of the imperial legacy lead to a new agrarian
and institutional system. Most of the Ethiopian intellectuals and clergy for whom those oral traditions
represented a legal framework are now about to disappear. There is first of all an important field work
for collecting those traditions. Preserved in the Audiovisual archives' department of the NALE, these
records will be digitized and analysed.

EUROPEAN NATIONAL COLLECTIONS : MANUSCRIPTS
3. The FRENCH NATIONAL LIBRARY (1034 Ethiopian manuscripts3)
Four collections have been deposited. The most ancient is the royal and imperial's one. Then, Antoine
d’Abbadie’s collection4, (collected in the 1840’s); M. Griaule’s collection5, (collected during the
Dakar-Djibouti mission, in 1931), C. Mondhon-Vidhaillet’s collection6 (1892-97). Only 70
manuscripts from Marcel Cohen’s collection have not been catalogued yet, but are identified.
The French collection has been widely used by scholars for editing and translating Ethiopian
literature, as a large number of them are to be found there in their most ancient version. Still, a large
number of ancient manuscripts from this collection, especially in the liturgical field, remain
unexploited.
The BRITISH LIBRARY (800 manuscripts7)
The main acquisition comes from the loot of the Royal Ethiopian Library after the seizure of the
Magdala fortress in 1868 (408 manuscripts8). It includes beautiful illuminated manuscripts from the
17th and 18th. Moreover, as most of those manuscripts come from Gondar churches, they are rich
historical sources regarding this area.
The physical condition of those volumes remain still since their entrance in these collections, and
restoration services provide necessary treatment if damages are noticed.
4. There is no threat on those manuscripts, preserved according to strict rules. Ethiopian claim for the
restitution of national heritage creates some tensions and can spoil international relationships between
cultural institutions. First, as far as Ethiopia is concerned, these claims are carried on in international
press by a single private association. As far as NALE is concerned, this agency has to "make efforts to
3
http://www.bnf.fr/pages/zNavigat/frame/collections.htm
d’ABBADIE, A., Catalogue raisonné des manuscrits éthiopiens, [n° 1-234], Paris, Bibliothèque Impériale, 1859, 236 p. ;
CHAÎNE, M,. Catalogue des manuscrits éthiopiens de la collection Antoine d’Abbadie, [n°1-283], Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale,
1922 ; CONTI ROSSINI, C., « Notice sur les manuscrits éthiopiens de la collection d'Abbadie », [n° 1-281], Journal Asiatique,
10ème série : 19, 1912, pp.551-578 ; 20, 1912, pp.5-72, 449-494; 11ème série : 2, 1913, pp.5-63; 4, 1915, pp.189-238, 445-493.
5
GREBAULT, S., Catalogue des manuscrits éthiopiens de la collection Griaule, t.1, [n° 305-337], Institut d’ethnologie, Paris,
1938, 29 ; t.2, [n° 338-361], Miscellanea Africana Lebaudy, cahier 1, Paris, 1941 ; t.3, [ n° 362-372], Institut d’ethnologie, Paris,
1944, 30 ; STRELCYN, S., Catalogue des manuscrits éthiopiens de la collection Griaule, [ n° 373-674], Paris,1954, t. 4, 287p.
6
CHAÎNE, M., Catalogue des manuscrits éthiopiens de la collection Mondon-Vidaillhet, [n°187-300], Paris, 1913, 70p.
7
http://www.bl.uk/collections/ethiop.html
8
WRIGHT, S., Catalogue of the Ethiopian manuscripts in the British Museum acquired since the year 1847, London, 1877.
STRELCYN, S. Catalogue of Ethiopian manuscripts in the British Library acquired since 1877, London, 1978, 188p.
4
4
bring to the country the original or copy of literary documents which were taken out of the country" .
The Agency is then very interested in sharing a descriptive catalogue and virtual copies of this heritage.
9
5. Access
Manuscripts from NALE
 Levels of access, including any restrictions : scholars
 Copyright status of documentary heritage : All rights are reserved to the National Archives and
Library Organization
 Bibliographic control, including an indication of availability in a number of different languages :
- The catalogue of the manuscripts is incomplete, only 600 volumes upon 835 have been succinctly
described. It is a manual catalogue, in Amharic.
- Half of the EMML collection is catalogued, in English, according to accurate standards10. The
second half remains without description, except from the brief notes taken during the microfilming
session. Those notes have been gathered in a database, available in the microfilms department, using
CDS-ISIS.
The Hill Monastic Microfilm Library is intending now to pursue this cataloguing process and is
looking for partners. The first contact has been established in July 2003 and might lead to
collaboration.
Manuscripts from religious institutions inside Ethiopia
 Levels of access, including any restrictions : It is quite difficult to have access to those
manuscripts.
 Copyright status of documentary heritage : all right reserved to the Ethiopian Tewhado Orthodox
Church
 Bibliographic control, including an indication of availability in a number of different languages :
None, except for churches covered by EMML project or by the Ministry of Culture's inventory,
1979-1983, which gives very short description, in Amharic, of some 200 monastic libraries.
Manuscripts from European National collections :
 Levels of access, including any restrictions : scholars
 Copyright status of documentary heritage : all right reserved to the BNF and the British Library
 Bibliographic control, including an indication of availability in a number of different languages :
- catalogues of the BNF : see footnotes 2, 3, 4. All those catalogues are in French, and most of them
should be modernised. Images from Ethiopian manuscripts have been described in Mandragore
database and will be available on-line soon.
- catalogues of the BL : see note 5. The first catalogue, which describes the essential part of the
collection, shall be modernised. There is no virtual treatment of this collection until now.
6. Executive head of Project :
Person responsible for preparing work plan, organizing work teams, conducting technical studies, etc.
Name: WION Anaïs
Institution: Centre de Recherches Africaines - Mutations Africaines dans la Longue Durée (CNRS UMR
8054)
Address: 9 rue Malher. 75 004 Paris
9
Ethiopian National Archives and Library Proclamation : II, 8, 3, Federal Negarit Gazeta, n°63, June 1999.
GETATCHEW HAYLE and W.F. MACOMBER A catalogue of Ethiopian manuscripts microfilmed for the Ethiopian Manuscripts
Microfilm Library, Addis Ababa, and for the Monastic Microfilm Library, St. John’s Abbey and University, Collegeville,
10 vol., 1975-1987.
10
5
Telephone: 00 33 6 62 88 88 57
/ Telefax: 00 33 1 44 78 33 39 / E-mail: anais.wion1@libertysurf.fr
7. Other countries associated in Project:
List here names of countries participating in project. Use Annex 1 form to provide addresses of
organizations and officials responsible for project in each country listed.
Ethiopia ; France ; (Great Britain ? Ethiopia and France will be very interested by cooperation with
British partners. Discussions have just begun)
8. Duration of project execution:
36
sept
2003
Project starting date:
Months
Month/Year
9. Funding sources:
5 350 000
US$ (See Table of National or
Regional
contributions
to
project)
B=
22 100
US$ (See Table of Contributions
requested from MoW)
Other funds requested or obtained C=
61 000
US$ (See Table of Contributions
requested or obtained from
other sources)
National
or
contributions:
Regional A=
Funds requested from MoW
(not exceeding 50% of total
cost of Project)
Total cost of Project
A+B+C=
5 433 100
US$
PROJECT DESCRIPTION AND EXPECTED RESULTS
1. Project Description
Main features of the project :
- upgrading the preservation's conditions of microfilms and manuscripts of the NALE.
- digitization of manuscripts and microfilms of the NALE, (eventually samples of BNF and, if possible,
BL's collections).
In regard to the high amount of volumes, some criteria will define priorities for digitization, according to
age, rarity, the presence of paintings and archival material inside one volume,… A workshop, held in Paris
en December 2003, will settle those choices.
It is important also to create, since the early beginning, a homogenous virtual collection for experimenting
the database's efficiency (see below), by choosing for instance identical texts in each library, but with
6
internal textual differences.
- creation of a descriptive database for cataloguing manuscripts (texts, images and historical notes)
preserved in NALE, BNF and BL.
It will use XML language and will respect as far as possible international description norms. The descriptive
system will also be used for future oral documents.
The funding for the database is secured by the CNRS, Programme Interdisciplinaire, Société de
l'Information.
Beneficiaries :
- NALE manuscripts' department and audiovisual archives' department
- BNF oriental manuscripts' department
- BL's oriental manuscripts department (with reservation)
- scholars in the field of Ethiopian studies
Scientific partners :
- National Archives and Library of Ethiopia : professional experts and curators
- Ethiopian Sciences and Technology Commission (ESTC) in cooperation with the Ethiopian Ministry
of Capacity Building
- Bibliothèque Nationale de France : members of AFNOR group ; IFLA ; International Relations service ;
Conservation ; Oriental Manuscripts department ; microfilms experts
- British Library : Oriental and India Office ; Manuscripts catalogue department (with reservation)
- Centre de Recherches Africaines-Mutations Africaines dans la Longue Durée (CNRS, UMR 8054) :
Anaïs WION, historian
- Institut d'Etudes Africaines (CNRS, UMR 6124) : Claire BOSC-TIESSE, art historian
- Langues-Musiques-Sociétés (CNRS, UMR 8099) : Olivier TOURNY, ethnomusicologist
- Archives de France : Denise OGILVIE, conservateur
- Institut National de Recherche en Informatique et Automatique-Futur, LRI (CNRS, UMR 8623) :
MACKAY Wendy, project head (IN SITU project)
Activities, products or services to be generated and the way they will be used :
- the database and the digitized collections will be available on line (in Europe) and on CD Rom (until
Ethiopia gets easy access to high speed network). The website could be hosted by UNESCO.
- international workshops, gathering librarians and professionals involved in the database's project. The first
session will take place in Paris in December 2003 ; the second one in London in 2004 ; the third one in
Addis Abeba in 2005.
All scientific, technical and legal questions might be discussed and should find agreements. Protocol
agreements are now under construction and should give a solid ground to this international cooperation.
- training in preservation, cataloguing and digitization.
Broad lines of its technical design :
-database : a grant from the CNRS has been afforded for a two years program (June 2003 to June 2005)
dedicated to the conception of this descriptive architecture. Existent encoding systems and their applications
will be studied. Formation to XML and XML ISIS will be provided to the different participants.
- preservation : some expertises shall be leaded, together with the BNF.
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- digitization : a pilot program could begin before the opening of the new building in NALE, to select a
working protocol :
 for manuscripts : a sample of representative manuscripts has to be selected and treated as a pilot
program
 for microfilms : together with Japanese experts and moreover with the Hill Monastic Manuscripts
Library, a project is going on for finding financial and technical supports
2. Expected results
- a secured preservation of NALE's microfilms and manuscripts
- an on-line access to Ethiopian, French and British national collections of Ethiopian manuscripts collections
- an increased awareness of the historical and intellectual value of this heritage, and the necessity to
preserved Ethiopian monastic collections in site.
- an increased awareness of the high historical value of oral tradition.
PROJECT REQUIREMENTS
HUMAN RESOURCES AND EQUIPMENT
3. Human resources requested from MoW
- one expert is needed for evaluating the preservation condition of the EMML microfilms in NALE. (Short
term mission in Addis : one week)
- one expert in archival normative description for oral documents (Short term mission in Addis : one week)
- one expert in digitization (at least two weeks)
4. Equipment requested

for NALE
- 2 microfilm readers-printers : 3000 $ x 2
= 6000 $
- chemicals FBHD developer and fixer (100 litres of each) = 3300 $
- 1 microfilm-scanner
= 4000 $
- Pentium IV / 2,53 GHz / 256 Mo / 60 Go /
CD writer + screen 19 inchs, 1600x1200 pixels
= 1000 + 200 $
- Line interactive UPS
= 100 $

for executive head of the project
- Portable PC Toshiba : Intel Pentium IV / 20 GHz /
8
512 Mo / 40 Go / 15 inch / CD writer
= 1500 $
NATIONAL OR REGIONAL CONTRIBUTIONS
TOTAL
(US$)
NATIONAL
(US$)
BREAKDOWN OF CONTRIBUTIONS
RECEIVED
4 000 000
(new
building
of NALE)
BREAKDOWN OF CONTRIBUTIONS
REQUESTED
1 350 000
(equipment
for the
new
building)
5 350 000
TOTAL
5 350 000
A=
REGION
AL
(US$)
CONTRIBUTIONS REQUESTED FROM THE MEMORY
OF THE WORLD PROGRAMME
BREAKDOWN OF
CONTRIBUTIONS
REQUESTED
TOTAL
(US$)
REMARKS
16 100
1. EQUIPMENT
Preservation
conservation
Hardware
Software
Other
TOTAL
and
2. HUMAN RESOURCES
International expertise
(Consultants)
TOTAL
3.TRAINING
Costs of participation in
further training (Seminars,
courses, workshops)
TOTAL
4. OTHER CONTRIBUTIONS
(Please state nature)
3 000
3 000
6 000
3 plane tickets Europe (Paris)-Addis Abeba
4 weeks (20x150 $ per diem)
9
TOTAL
TOTAL
B=
22 100
10
CONTRIBUTIONS REQUESTED OR OBTAINED FROM
OTHER RESOURCES
BREAKDOWN OF
CONTRIBUTIONS REQUESTED
1. EQUIPMENT
Preservation and conservation
Hardware
Software
TOTAL
(US$)
10 000
REMARKS
obtained from CNRS (2003-2005)
10 000
TOTAL
2. HUMAN RESOURCES
International expertise
16 000
20 000
obtained from CNRS (2003-2005)
obtained from French Ministry of Foreign
Affaires (2001-2003 : 4 training visits in France
for Ethiopian experts of NALE / 4 expertise visits
in Ethiopia for French experts)
(Consultants)
36 000
TOTAL
3. TRAINING
Costs of participation in further 6 000
training
(Seminars,
courses, 6 000
workshops)
12 000
TOTAL
4. OTHER CONTRIBUTIONS
(Please state the nature)
TOTAL
C=
3 000
3 000
61 000
obtained from CNRS (2003-2005)
requested to MAE (2003-2004)
(administrative expenses) obtained from CNRS
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ANNEX 1
Other countries participating in the project
1. Country: ETHIOPIA
2. Executive head of Project : Ahmed ADEM, head of National Archives of Ethiopia
Name: ADEM Ahmed
Name of the Institution:
National Archives and Library of Ethiopia
Address: Po Box 717 Addis Abeba
Telephone: 00 251 1 51 22 41
Telefax: 00 251 1 52 64 11
E-mail: nale@telecom.net.et
1. Country: FRANCE
2. Executive head of Project : Anaïs WION
Name: WION Anaïs
Name of the Institution:
Mutations Africaines dans la Longue Durée (CNRS, UMR 8054)
Address: 9 rue Malher. 75 004 Paris
Telephone: 00 33 6 62 88 88 57 Telefax: 00 33 1 44 78 33 39 E-mail: anais.wion1@libertysurf.fr