The restoration of a 500-year-old handwritten Koran, which had been heavily damaged by the elements, is likely to be completed by the end of this month, the National Taiwan Library said last week.
The book’s cover and binding are the final elements to be repaired, said Hsu Mei-wen (徐美文), a book restorer at the national library’s Book Hospital.
Hsu specializes in the restoration of ancient texts and calligraphy.
Photo courtesy of Hsu Mei-wen
The artifact was presented two years ago as a gift to Dharma Master Cheng Yen (證嚴法師), founder of the Taiwan-based Buddhist Tzu Chi Charity Foundation, by Faisal Hu (胡光中), a Tzu Chi volunteer and Muslim based in Turkey.
The 75 chapters of text were handwritten by four different people, using different inks, and was completed some time in the 15th or 16th century, Hsu said.
Cheng Yen was leafing though her special gift when she saw what looked like ants on some of the pages, and contacted the national library to inspect the book, Hsu said.
The “ants” were actually cigarette beetles, which are commonly found in old books, she said.
An inert gas was applied to eradicate the insects.
The library further endeavored to restore the Koran, which was a long and painstaking process, with a day required to repair two pages, Hsu said.
Sourcing appropriate materials also took much time and effort, she said, adding, for example, that the library had to find linen fibers to match the material of the Koran’s pages.
Given the lack of suppliers, finding the linen took eight months, she said.
The material was eventually discovered in the national library’s warehouse. It was later dyed with a mineral pigment to create a similar look as that in the handwritten edition of the Koran.
Hsu removed old dust, seeds and human hair from the tome, all of which she collected plans to display alongside the restored Koran in July, she said.
Hsu said that while she is neither Buddhist nor Muslim, she chose out of respect not to eat pork during the time she was restoring the Koran.
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