International Forum of Calligraphy, Writing, and Inscriptions in the World through the Ages

 On the occasion of the start of the actual activities of the calligraphy center at the Bibliotheca Alexandrina and in collaboration with the calligraphy Institute in Paris, the Bibliotheca Alexandrina organized an International Forum on calligraphy entitled "Calligraphy, Inscriptions and Writings in the World through the Ages" in April 2003 under the auspices of H.E Mrs. Suzanne Mubark, chair of the Board of Trustees at the BA.

This Forum aimed at studying the evolution of Calligraphy, Writing, and Inscriptions since the pre-historic era, bringing together specialists and scribes from all over the world to discuss and elaborate on new research work and innovations in this field. This has reflected the importance of gathering human knowledge through the ages.

The "Calligraphy, Inscriptions and Writings in the World through the Ages" Forum traced the process through which man has known inscriptions, calligraphy and writings and their role in creating a heritage of human knowledge that is based on the diversity of cultures and languages. The Forum revolved around a number of themes according to the world's geographic distribution, where a number of lectures discussed the forms of calligraphy that were dominant in the civilizations of the ancient Far East .

Other lectures tackled the calligraphy of the pharaohs, as well as the Arabic and Islamic calligraphy in addition to the other forms. Throughout the Forum, a number of lectures about the classical and contemporary civilizations tackled through multiple, integrated sub-themes such as the styles and patterns of writings and the symbolic relations between their shape, content and evolution, as well as the recent research movements in that area and their mutual effect on one another.

Themes of the Forum:

In an attempt to study the different patterns of calligraphy in the world, the forum tackled a number of themes that are classified according to time and geographical status as follows:

Calligraphy of the civilizations at the Ancient Near East. Calligraphy of the civilizations of the Far East . Calligraphy of the classical and contemporary civilizations. Arab Islamic Calligraphy. African Calligraphy. South American Calligraphy.

There were numerous speakers and valuable papers presented in the Conference, from which we selected the following;

1. " The Absence of the early writing systems in Anatolia : some suggestions on the problem ".presented by Ali Umut Türkcan

2. (Instructor, University of Anadolu , Turkey ). The goal of the paper is to suggest some reasons for the absence of early writing systems in Anatolia until the early II.Mill.BC.

3. "I missed my home" Multilingual desktop graffiti in a Turkish university . p resented by Dr. Jonathan Ross ( Anadolu University , Eskisehir , Turkey ). This paper documents and analyses graffiti produced by students of English at Anadolu University mostly aged between eighteen and twenty.

4. "conservation management on rock art sites, Egypt " . Presented by Dr. Badawy M. Ismail (faculty of arts, Qena , Egypt ). The paper discusses issue of the deterioration of the rock art work, and this is due to several natural factors, which is hard to control, because the art work cannot be isolated from the rock mass. It is especially vulnerable to damage by man-made deterioration.

5. "the avesta manuscript" p resented by Mrs. Fahimeh Ghaninejad (National Library of the Islamic Republic of Iran ). The paper discusses The Avesta Manuscript, which is not of the same time as its own language, is one of the most complete and subtle handwritings invented so far, it also lacks the problems existing in all the other manuscripts, therefore it subject to study by numerous researchers. 

6. This Forum witnessed the participation of a large number of linguists and world experts in the area of ancient and contemporary languages. This gathering shall in turn present an opportunity for exchanging experiences and information on the Arab and international level.