NOMINATION FORM |
Egypt - Memory of the Suez Canal
PART A - ESSENTIAL INFORMATION
PART A - ESSENTIAL INFORMATION
1.1 Name of documentary heritage : Memory of the Suez Canal
1.2 Country : Egypt
1.3 State, province or region : Egyptian Embassy - Paris
1.4 Address :
Cultural Bureau
Egyptian Embassy
56, Avenue d'Iéna
75116 PARIS
France
1.5 Name of organization or institution (if appropriate) :
Cultural Bureau - Egyptian Embassy - Paris
2.1 Owners (name and contact details) :
2.2 Custodian : Dr Fathi SALEH
2.3 Legal status :
(a) category of ownership : Public
(b) details of legal and administrative provisions for the
preservation: Customary library care
(c) accessibility : Public access and use in the reading
rooms
(d) copyright status : No copyright restrictions
(e) Responsible administration :
Cultural Bureau, Egyptian Embassy, 56, Avenue d'Iéna, 75116
PARIS - France
3. Identification
3.1 Description and inventory :
Documents, manuscripts and images of the old
times (inauguration of the Suez Canal) are dispersed between many
organizations. The Association of the Friends of Ferdinand de
Lesseps, the Company of Suez and the Suez Canal Authority are
the most important sources. Along the history, many developments
occurred which are also documented in different places, the last
event being the nationalization of the Suez Canal and its consequences.
Finally, there is the present status of the Suez Canal, with all
its engineering work of enlargement, deepening and doubling of
the Canal. All these components represent a good memory of the
Suez Canal that is connecting the East to the West.
3.2 Bibliographic/Registration details :
A survey was carried out to determine in a general
form the contents of different locations holding Suez Canal documents
and other materials . This survey is summarized as follows :
3.2.1 List of libraries (according to their importance) :
Centre des Archives du Monde du Travail
- CAMT
Rond Point Europe
78, Bd Gén. Leclerc
59100 ROUBAIX
France
Tél. 03 20 65 38 00
Archives Nationales
- Centre Historique de Paris
60, rue des Francs Bourgeois
75003 PARIS
France
Tél. 01 40 27 60 00
Bibliothèque de l'Arsenal
1, rue Sully
75004 PARIS
France
Tél. 01 42 77 44 21
Suez Canal Authority
Ismailia
Egypt
Bibliothèque de l'Institut du Monde Arabe - IMA
1, rue Fossés St Bernard
75005 PARIS
France
Tél. 01 40 51 38 38
Bibliothèque Nationale de France
- Richelieu
58, rue de Richelieu
75002 PARIS
Tél. 01 47 03 81 26
Bibliothèque Forney
1, rue Figuier
75004 PARIS
Institut National de l'Audiovisuel -INA
83, rue Patay
75013 PARIS
Tél. 01 44 23 12 12
The five first libraries being the most important
ones, we will give a quick account of the contents of each one
of them.
Centre des Archives du Monde du Travail - CAMT
The CAMT was founded for the conservation
of the national archives related to labour. Starting in 1994,
it was supplied with the documents of some of the private enterprises
under the serial number AQ. Under such conditions, the archives
of the « Compagnie Universelle du Canal Maritime de
Suez » (C.U.C.M.S) were transferred to the CAMT. Founded
in 1855 for the construction and running of the Suez Canal, according
to the concession approved to Ferdinand de Lesseps, the C.U.C.M.S.
reoriented its activities when the Canal was nationalized by Egypt
in 1956. Two years later it was transformed to « Compagnie
Financière de Suez ».
Scope of the collection : original documents of the « Compagnie Financière de Suez », printed and iconographic documents (photographs and some documentary films). These documents cover the period from 1862 to 1977.
Size of the collection : The considerable mass of documents (more than one and a half kilometres of shelves) made the classification quite long and delicate.
In 1990, a work for improving this archive was carried
out. This was mentioned in the publication :« Etat
Sommaire des Archives d'Entreprises conservées aux Archives
Nationales. Series AQ, tome III, (120 AQ à 215 AQ) ».
The registration contains two folders each containing about 500
pages.
The Collection of the « Archives Nationales » :
Scope of the collection :
A photographic collection « The photographs of Hippolyte
Arnoux and Zangaki » are kept in the National Archives
of Paris.
Size of the collection : This collection contains 287 photographs arranged in 12 albums (Ph1 to Ph12). This collection is not easy to manipulate because of its fragility and the heaviness of the albums ( 10 to 15 kg each).
About sixty of these photographs are presented in
the catalogue of the Hippolyte Arnoux exhibition which was organized
by the « History of France » Museum (a department
of the National Archives).
The Arsenal Library :
It is a department of the National Library (Bibliothèque
Nationale).
Scope of the collection : printed documents of historical, biographical and chronographic character, as well as maps and plans.
Size of the Collection : partial inventory, based on the « catalogues des matières » of 1880 to 1964, shows that the collection contains about 125 documents. They cover the period from 1834 to 1957.
The Arsenal Library also owns the « Enfantin
Collection » (Saint Simoniens), which is of extreme
importance to the Memory of the Suez Canal.
Arab World Institute Library - (Institut du Monde
Arabe - IMA)
Scope of the collection :
printed material of historic, economic and political character.
In addition, there are several articles and periodicals. Several
documents contain illustrations, maps and images (English and
French). These documents cover the period from 1869 to 1990.
Size of the collection :
The collection contains 38 documents in addition to 17 periodicals.
This estimate is based on a search carried on the computerized
catalogue of the library.
The Suez Canal Authority Library (Ismailia - Egypt) :
Scope of the collection :
The Suez Canal Authority has a library that contains mainly books
in Arabic, English and French. They are all in good condition
and well documented. A listing of the collection is already available.
Size of the collection :
The collection contains 55 documents in Arabic, 18 documents in
English and 177 documents in French.
3.3 Visual documents : see attached material.
3.4 History :
The memory of the Suez Canal which is in the form
of documents, rare books, photographs, paintings..., is dispersed
between different institutes in different countries, such as Suez
Canal Authority in Egypt, Compagnie de Suez, Bibliothèque
Nationale and Archives Nationales in Paris. Gathering this wealth
together on an information system will save for humanity, the
memory of a hundred year of information about one of the most
important waterways that connected the East to the West and affected
the history of the globe and the Middle East in the last two centuries.
The documents and images concerning this period date back to the
inauguration of the Suez Canal in 1869. Most of the old documents
are stored in the « Company of Suez » in Paris,
which was managing the Canal until 1956. As of 1956, date of the
nationalization of the Canal, the accumulation of documents is
at the Suez Canal Authority in Egypt. In addition to the official
documents, some rare books and manuscripts are stored in different
libraries .
3.5 Bibliography
3.6 Names, qualifications and contact details of independent
people or organizations with expert knowledge about the values
and provenance of the documentary heritage :
M. Calon
Association du Souvenir de Ferdinand de Lesseps et du Canal de
Suez
1 rue d'Astorg
75008 PARIS
France
Tél : 01 40 06 65 97
A project is being envisaged, the outcome of which is two-fold :
The steps of this plan are as follows :
The total duration of the project is estimated to
be 18 months and the total budget is $100,000 US Dollars. The
project will be co-ordinated by the Cultural Bureau of the Egyptian
Embassy in Paris, France.
5. Assessment against
the Selection Criteria :
5.1 Assessment of the documentary heritage against each
criterion described in Annex 2.
Primary Criteria :
Criterion 1 - Influence (on history) : The inauguration of the Suez Canal and its nationalization, with its consequences, especially the 1956 war, are two landmarks in the history of the world.
Criterion 2 - Time : It covers a period of over 100 years in the recent period.
Criterion 3 - Place : Egypt : a physical maritime connection between the east and the west.
Criterion 4 - People : It is related to great personalities in the world, in the 19th century (e.g. de Lesseps, Napoleon III, Empress Eugénie, Khedive Ismaïl Pasha) and in the 20th century (Ferdinand de Lesseps, Gamal Abdel Nasser, Dwight Eisenhower, Anthony Eden, Guy Mollet, Golda Mayer, Moshé Dayan).
Criterion 5 - Subject/Theme : The Suez Canal is a real international subject by all means. It represents a major theme of modern history.
Criterion 6 - Form and Style :
The 19th century witnessed a special technique for
printing coloured large books by lithography. The books could
be more than one meter long, e.g. « La description de
l'Egypte » and many other rare books that were printed
on the occasion of the inauguration of the Suez Canal.
Secondary criteria :
Criterion 1 - Integrity : Since this nomination addresses modern history, the documents and rare books are almost integrally in existence, except that they are dispersed.
Criterion 2 - Rarity :
Most of the documents are original.
6. Consultation
6.1 Details of consultation about the nomination with the
7. Nominator
7.1 Name : Professor
Fathi SALEH
7.2 Relationship to documentary heritage : based on
his previous experience in cultural heritage projects and his
very close relation with the involved organizations :
Dr SALEH will be the main co-ordinator of this project.
7.2 Contact details:
Bureau Culturel
Egyptian Embassy
56, Avenue d'Iéna
F-75116 Paris - France
Tél. 01 47 20 76 57
Fax 01 40 70 08 31