Vatican City : Dr. Majid bin Ali Al Nuaimi, Public Affairs Minister at the Royal Court, and Archbishop Angelo Vincenzo Zani, Archivist and Librarian of the Holy Roman Church, signed a cooperation agreement between the King Hamad Digital Library and Royal Archive Centre of Bahrain and the Vatican Apostolic Library.
The agreement aims to provide the King Hamad Digital Library and the Royal Archive Centre access to the Vatican Apostolic Library’s digital platform, manuscripts, and archival documents. It also includes collaboration in archival preservation, digitisation, and documentation.
This collaboration reflects the prosperous era of His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, which has positioned Bahrain as a distinguished presence on the international stage. It also highlights the Kingdom’s leadership in leveraging information and communication technology across scientific, knowledge, and digital fields.
Dr. Al Nuaimi highlighted that the agreement covers cooperation in digital cataloguing, manuscript preservation and restoration, joint research projects, and seminars. He noted that the partnership offers Bahraini researchers access to the Vatican Library’s knowledge resources through the King Hamad Digital Library. The collaboration also provides an opportunity to explore manuscripts showcasing the achievements of Arab Islamic civilisation, which reaffirms Bahrain’s role in preserving cultural heritage as a part of human history.
Bahrain has supported the development of the Vatican Library’s digital platform, the Diamond-ILS module, enabling the electronic cataloguing of manuscript restoration data for global access. This support also facilitates Bahrain’s access to the Vatican Library’s manuscripts and documents without charge. Additionally, Bahrain will assist in restoring and digitising rare Arabic manuscripts in the Vatican’s collection, dating back to its establishment in 1475, covering fields such as science, medicine, mathematics, astronomy, and literature.
On a related note, Dr. Al Nuaimi led Bahrain’s delegation to a conference focusing on dialogue and libraries, held at the Vatican at an invitation from the Vatican Apostolic Library. The conference addressed projects related to library and archival sciences, with participation from global institutions.
The Minister and representatives of the Royal Archive attended working sessions discussing advanced systems for data preservation, digital archiving, research projects, and the use of modern technology, including artificial intelligence, in managing and preserving books and documents. Discussions also focused on leveraging digital media and AI to develop platforms for libraries and archives.
