On an area of more than 12,000 square feet, the “House of Wisdom” library was inaugurated in the Emirate of Sharjah; The library offers a new experience for readers and researchers in the United Arab Emirates and the Arab region since it boasts hundreds of thousands of books and documents. It is also an ideal location for social and cultural meeting.
Reinterpreting the library as a social platform for learning supported by innovation and technology, the House of Wisdom represents a new moment for Sharjah as an international cultural capital. This concept transforms the “House of Wisdom” into a social platform for learning and knowledge, reinforced by innovation tools and advanced technologies, within the vision of Dr. Sheikh Sultan bin Muhammad Al Qasimi, Member of the Supreme Council and Ruler of Sharjah, who inaugurated the library on December 9, 2020, accompanied by Sheikha Bodour bint Sultan Al Qasimi, Chairman of the Sharjah Investment Authority.
Inspired by an ancient scroll design that represented the lasting power of books and how reading shares a strong purpose of uniting people together, the “House of Wisdom” was built as an architectural masterpiece that relies on natural lighting in its interior. The visitor wanders in a living garden surrounded by bookshelves, and lives the reading experience in open interactive spaces, and moves in lobbies and halls equipped with the latest modern technologies, through which he can print and package any book in Just a few minutes.
The library will be home to 305,000 books, of which 200,000 are in the digital format and 11,000 comprise of books in various languages. The children’s section, ‘The Little Reader’, houses more than 2,000 books, while another section has been set aside for youth with 3,000 titles.
The “House of Wisdom” also embraces the “Al-Jazari laboratory,” whose name came in recognition of the scientific contributions made by Badi al-Zaman al-Jazari (1136-1206) AD, and includes the latest advanced printing and graphic arts technologies including 3D printers, laser cutters, as well as a small CNC machine, which enables visitors to create prototypes.
The “House of Wisdom” has also been allocated specialized halls dubbed as “Diwan” and “The Little Reader” for women and children.
At the House of Wisdom, Dr. Shaikh Sultan also toured Iraqi-born, New York-based artist Wafaa Bilal’s major solo exhibition titled ‘168: 01’, showing for the first time in the Arab world. The exhibition is an expression of “the historic loss of a priceless cultural heritage” that occurred when a fire destroyed more than 70,000 books at the library of the College of Fine Arts at University of Baghdad in 2003. The Ruler of Sharjah was briefed on the artist’s exhibit featuring a makeshift library filled with empty white books. Visitors to the exhibition are invited to replace the blank books with real ones to restore the collection of destroyed libraries in Iraqi universities and institutes. The donated books will be dedicated to the libraries of universities in Baghdad, Mosul, Babylon, and the Iraqi National Museum.
