Photo: UHH/Brannahl-Archiv

The Great Mosque in Sanaa, where the manuscripts were found. The photograph, taken in the 1980s, is by Günter Brannahl, a conservator from Göttingen. His photo archive is now part of the University of Hamburg’s scientific collections.

Due to the current political situation in Yemen, the original manuscripts—which are among the oldest Qur’an manuscripts in existence—are currently inaccessible. However, the approximately 24,000 microfilm images, as well as 5,000 color slides and black-and-white photographs, created in the 1990s were acquired in 2019 by the Department of Oriental Studies at the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin and have since been digitized. This means that, for the first time, it is now possible to analyze this valuable manuscript discovery in its entirety.

To this end, researchers in Islamic Studies at the Asia-Africa Institute of the Faculty of Humanities at the University of Hamburg and the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin have secured funding from the DFG for a twelve-year research project: “From the Particular View to the Overall Picture: Using Computer Vision, AI, Paleography, and Philology to Reconstruct the Biography of the Great Mosque of Sanaa Manuscript Collection as an Ensemble” (BiSaME) will run from 2026 to 2029 during its first phase and will receive funding of €934,301 for this period.

The project is led by Dr. Alba Fedeli of the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin, who previously conducted research at the University of Hamburg for many years, and Prof. Dr. Thomas Eich from the Department of Islamic Studies at the University of Hamburg. “This long-term project aims to examine the collection in its entirety by analyzing the history of the manuscripts. Among other things, we are reconstructing their origins and production and examining their use as religious texts by the community. We are also exploring the debates that have influenced their public reception over the past 50 years, particularly as a result of media coverage,” says Prof. Dr. Thomas Eich.

The project aims to unlock the potential of the images in the manuscripts and thereby reconstruct the history of the collection. By utilizing technology from the fields of computer vision and artificial intelligence in conjunction with the latest research on Qur’anic manuscripts, the project will systematically examine one of the most widely discussed manuscript collections in the Middle East, which has often been the subject of speculation and controversy, according to Eich and Fedeli.

“The project aims not only to advance scientific knowledge but also to promote appreciation of and access to this collection by addressing a research gap that has thus far been filled by media narratives. It will thus raise awareness of the collection’s significance both within academic research and beyond,” says Dr. Alba Fedeli.

(This content has been translated automatically.)