“Arkhéopolis”: A New Hope (ICA Congress – Episode IV, October 12, 2023)

That it was already day 3! We once again had the privilege to take part in a richly filled day of activities, speeches, and interchange.

Co-Lab Session: Archives Professionals Considerations

Session chaired by Odile WELFELé, responsible for international archival cooperation at the Archives de France.

The French-Speaking International Archival Portal (PIAF): A Model of International Collaboration at the African Level

This presentation of the French-speaking International Archival Portal (PIAF)) by Caroline BECKER, by Claude ROBERTO and by Basma Makhlouf SHABOU focused on international and interinstitutional collaboration for the project of mapping African archival resources, associating the International Council on Archives (CIA), the 'International Association of Francophone Archives (AIAF) and the National School of Chartes (ENC), being a collaborative solidarity project of identification and census, aiming to help African colleagues and students to pool their resources to exploit them in a manner optimal...

Project: Promotion of Archival Culture in Venezuela

Presentation by Mary LUNA, Executive Director, and Heisbell Espinoza.

Archiven Soluciones integrales offers solutions to informational problems, so that society obtains information and training for documentary management and the protection of historical memory, organizing discussions and presentations with expert panelists in the documentary field, with the aim to address topics of interest, to consolidate networks of professionals around the world through experiences and good practices, to contribute to the wealth of knowledge and archival culture of Venezuela...

Archival Law and Ethics in India

The presentation by Venkat SRINIVASAN, Anjali JR, Divij JOSHI and Farah YAMEEN covered a recent International Council of Archives (ICA) Fund for the International Development of Archives (FIDA) at the Archives at National Centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS), Bengaluru which produced a guidebook on Archival Law and Ethics in India, the first such publication of its kind in the country. It was planned as a Co-Lab presentation that shares the overview of the guidebook and reflects upon the developments in the archival landscape in India that led to its articulation...

Keynote Addresses

Dr. Shashi THAROOR, Member of Parliament, India

Dr. Shashi THAROOR, a third-term Member of Parliament for Thiruvananthapuram, is the bestselling author of 24 books, both fiction and non-fiction, besides being a former Under Secretary-General of the United Nations and a former Minister of State for Human Resource Development and for External Affairs in the Government of India. He has won numerous awards, including the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman, a Commonwealth Writers’ Prize and the Crossword Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2019, Dr. Tharoor was also awarded the Sahitya Akademi Award in the category of ‘English Non- Fiction’ for his book An Era of Darkness. The British Empire in India. He chairs Parliament’s Standing Committee on Chemicals and Fertilisers and has previously chaired the Standing Committee on External Affairs and the Committee on Information Technology.

Keynote Address by Indian MP and author Dr. Shashi Tharoor invited delegates to reflect upon major social themes and the complex relationship archival knowledge has with political power. Dr. Tharoor reminded us all that nations must unify diverse communities within their borders, constructing national values and beliefs than can bring people together by creating a shared sense of identity.??

History and memory are critical to this effort, and when actors or institutions draw from the past it is incumbent upon us all to reject narratives that seek to use history and memory as tools of division. Therefore, our profession bears a double responsibility: to be among the first and loudest voices to condemn bad actors, while diligently contributing our expertise to efforts that seek to foster unity within national and international communities through the responsible use of shared archival heritage.?

Above all history is meant to enrich us, not to impoverish us, which is what happens when we wield history as a weapon of mass division to tear people asunder.

Panel of National Archivists on Emerging Technologies

Roundtable discussion with Jeff JAMES, Curator and Director General of the National Archives of the United Kingdom, with Avril BELFON, National Archives of Trinidad and Tobago and with Hamad AL MUTAIRII, Director of the Archives Department of the National Library and Archives (NLA) of the United Arab Emirates (UAE)...

ICA New Professionals Luncheon 2023

Artificial Intelligence (AI) & Machine Learning

Session chaired by Hamad AL MUTAIRI, Director of the Archives Department of the National Library and Archives (NLA) of the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Man and Machine Learning: Bridging the Gap Between Communities of Users and the AI-powered Extraction of Historical Content

Presentation by Ian JAMES, Technical Product Manager at FamilySearch International.

FamilySearch is working to create machine-searchable text from all of its digitized historical images using solutions incorporating artificial intelligence, or machine learning technology. This creates valuable data on a large scale, but raises concerns about the consistency in quality of the data, which is required for accurate genealogical and historical conclusions. Therefore we use the data as-is to create new and engaging experiences where our users and volunteers help improve data quality...

The Valorization of Tunisian Radio Archives in the Era of Artificial Intelligence (AI)

Presentation by Sami MEDDEB, archivist at the Gazelle technology center.

After the 2011 revolution, Archives resources in Tunisia were reduced significantly due to complex political factors, with the Covid-19 pandemic exacerbating this precarious situation, particularly for smaller organizations such as radio stations. The integration of artificial intelligence (AI) improves the quality of images, audio and video, while simplifying analysis and archive management with less cost and resources...

Towards a National AI-Enabled Repository for Wales, Developing the Prototype

Presentation by Sarah HIGGINS, lecturer in information studies at Aberystwyth University, Cory THOMAS, artificial intelligence (AI) developer at Aberystwyth University, and Reyer ZWIGGELAR, head of Graduate School of Aberystwyth University, Sally McINNES, National Library of Wales, Gemma EVANS, Welsh Government, Scott LLOYD, Director of Research at the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of the Country of Wales (RCAHMW), and Colin SAUZE, senior research software engineer at the National Oceanographic Center (NOC).

This paper reported on the development of a prototype AI-Enabled Repository for Wales through stakeholder and researcher co-creation. The Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) funded project (Towards a National AI-Enabled Repository for Wales) collaboratively established both organisational and technical requirements for a national distributed repository with AI-enhanced discovery across images, text, metadata and data...

Exhibitor of the Day: The Ministry of Defense of the United Arab Emirates (UAE)

Access and Preservation

Session chaired by Bruno RICARD, director of the National Archives (AN) of France.

Wall Art Long Term Preservation and Access

Presentation by David AMITAI, president of the Association of Israeli Archivists (AIA), and Nirit SHALEV-KHALIFA, from Yad ben-Zvi (?? ???? ??-???), the news catching up with us and these 2 speakers ultimately transmitting a short video, despite the difficulty of the events.

An unprecedented heritage of Wall Art has been surveyed and cataloged countrywide, regardless of technique, size, location, or artist identity, in order to create an online informative digital database accessible to researchers and the general public. The database secures long-term access to items threatened by time upheavals, changing weather conditions, and development and provides for their preservation...

Data Protection and Definitive Archiving of Data in the Public Interest: Compatibility to Be Justified in Order to Collect

Presentation by Magali SOLER, head of the Collection, advice and supervision department at the National Archives (AN) in Luxembourg.

The protection of personal data is taking on considerable importance in our archival practices, evolving accordingly. Feedback from experience in Luxembourg on concrete compliance actions at the time of data evaluation, with a view to their collection no longer as part of the initial processing of said data, but for archival purposes, justifying the exception of their unlimited conservation...

Overcoming Challenges in Digitization and Preservation of Archival Photograph Collections in Egypt

Presentation by Ibrahim Abdelfattah Mohamed Ali, from New York University Abu Dhabi (NYUAD).

The paper provided some practical case studies on the use of digitization, preservation, and display methods to improve access and enhance preservation conditions of some of the archival photograph collections in Egypt...

Outing of the Day: The Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque (SZGM)

The Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque (SZGM) is one the world’s largest mosques and a massive architectural work of art that intentionally blends different Islamic architectural schools. It features 82 domes, more than 1,000 columns, 24-carat-gold gilded chandeliers and the world's largest hand-knotted carpet. The main prayer hall is dominated by one of the world’s largest chandeliers.

Sheikh Zayed and the Grand Mosque

Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan ("???? ?? ????? ?? ?????") (May 6, 1918-November 2, 2004) was well known for his contributions as a leader of strong will, insight and vision.? After achieving the foundation (December 2, 1971) of the United Arab Emirates ("???????? ??????? ???????" = UAE), Zayed was able to instigate and realize great contributions to his country which dramatically altered the life and destiny of his citizens on an economical, intellectual and social level.? He was able to build a modern and sophisticated country while preserving the particular cultural identity of his nation.

Throughout his life-time, Zayed adopted a tolerant version of pure Islamic faith far from fanaticism or extremism.? Zayed’s piousness and purity strengthened his relationship with Allah ("????").?For him, Islam ("???????") is the main source of instruction and guidance:?

If people understand Islam properly they will achieve miracles. When the Arabs followed the instructions of Islam, they dominated the world achieving glories.

Giving priority to moral values, Sheikh Zayed believed that developing a culture of tolerance is a project which deserves attention and concern like any other great initiative. To him, tolerance is the evidence of a nation’s vitality and proof of its ability to achieve more advancement and progress.? Understanding human nature, Sheikh Zayed seeks to promote a culture of tolerance able to reconcile the entire human race through the emphasis on the common bonds that link mankind together. Through his insight, Zayed becomes aware of the damaging impact of hostile dialogue on the future of humanity. Therefore, Zayed admires the Islamic faith whose essence is based on respect of human beings regardless of their religion, color, language, origin and traditions, calling for respect of man who is honored by Allah:

Islam is great and we should be proud of our religion because Islam is against all forms of racism. To stereotype a fellow human being is to deprive him of his humanity.

Sheikh Zayed’s enlightened vision came from the concept of diversity which is deeply rooted in the essence of Arabic–Islamic civilization.? To him, diversity is a continued and habitual procedure sanctioned by Allah who created the entire human race from a male and a female.? Throughout human history, the children of Adam and Eve advocate multiplicity of doctrines, religions, cultures and civilizations, however, they remain connected by superior human bonds.? All the peoples, races, tribes and nations all over the world are united together regardless of differences in color and religion:

And among His signs are the creation of the heavens and the earth and the difference of your language and colors.? Verily, in that are indeed signs for man of sound knowledge. (Surah 30, Ar-Rum [“The Romans"], the Holy Quran ["????????"]).

The concept of diversity is personified in Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque (SZGM), a majestic marvel that reveals a spectrum of architectural splendors formulating a harmonious unity between different Islamic architectural schools.?? The Mosque also includes a variety of post-modern architectural designs enriching its historical Islamic tastes.

The late Sheikh Zayed aimed to establish a historical Mosque, personifying the Islamic message of peace, tolerance and diversity.? He intended to turn the Grand Mosque into a living reference in modern Islamic architecture linking the past with the present in a harmonious melody.

The Mosque is the fruit of Sheikh Zayed’s unique vision.? The father of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has created an Islamic monument, a center for Islamic sciences and an emblem of genuine Islamic values, in order to illuminate the horizons of Islamic thought rooted in tolerance, love and peace.

Phases of Construction

First considerations to build the Mosque began in the late 1980s and construction began on 5th of November 1996. The maximum capacity is approximately 50,000 people. The internal prayer halls were initially opened for worship Eid Al Adha ("??? ??????" = "Feast of Sacrifice") 2007 and have remained so since then.

Its design and construction 'unites the world', using artisans, craftsmen and materials from many countries including Italy, Germany, Morocco, India, Turkey, China, United Kingdom, New Zealand, Greece and of course the United Arab Emirates. More than 3,000 workers and 38 contracting companies took part in the construction of the Mosque! Natural materials were chosen for much of its design and construction due to their long-lasting and beautiful qualities, including marble, stone, gold, semi-precious stones, crystals and ceramics.

General architecture

As a testament to the vision of its founder, Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque (SZGM) sits majestically at the entrance to Abu Dhabi City Island, distinctly visible from the 3 main bridges connecting the island to the main land, the Maqta, Mussafah and the Sheikh Zayed Bridge. The strategic geographical location of the Mosque is a symbolic expression of the emotional connection the Mosque has in the hearts of all United Arab Emirates (UAE) citizens particularly because the burial place of the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, first President of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), is located beside the mosque.??

The Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque (SZGM) is well recognized by its pure color, as it is clad with Sivec marble from Macedonia.? Every artistic design element was carefully considered and fits into the overall vision of the Mosque.

Some key contributions to Islamic art found in the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque (SZGM):

• Combining Mamluk, Ottoman and Fatimid styles, the design of the minarets fuse the wide and diverse Islamic world into one summation of art and beauty.
• Developing the art of ornamentation thorough using multi-colored marble to create unprecedented artistic forums with the help of natural colors in addition to the development of sophisticated techniques associated with the decoration of crowned columns.? The crowns are not located on the top of the columns but at the bottom.? This extraordinary technique is innovative to Islamic architecture.
• Giving priority to the art of using colours to create original artistic forms.? The colours of the walls, columns and the carpet are harmonized together transforming the entire Mosque into an artistic masterpiece and a symphony of colors and shades.
• Using modern techniques of artistic glass work; mosaic, carved and sand blasted glass displaying traditional Islamic designs of symmetry and repetition.

Domes

There are 82 domes of various sizes and the largest is located in the centre of the main prayer hall.? The design elements include pure white marble cladding; onion shaped ‘crowns’ and crescent shaped finials decorated with gold-glass mosaic.? The elongated windows allow the natural light to enter the prayer halls.

The inside of the domes feature traditional Moroccan artwork which has been made from reinforced plaster called (GRG).? Encircling the inside of the domes are verses from the Holy Quran which are also molded from GRG and painted in gold colour.

Other domes are found on the grand gated entrance and other entrances.?? There are also 14 green glass domes incorporated into the roof of the underground male and female ablution facilities.? They are visible above ground and are an important feature of the Mosque’s Islamic garden design.

The Minarets

The Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque (SZGM) has 4 minarets, each of which is around 106 meters high. The minaret has been the most significant component of Islamic architecture across the ages. Each minaret is made-up of 3 different geometric shapes. The first is a square that forms the minaret's base built according to the Arabic Moroccan architectural styles, as well as the Andalusian and the Mameluke styles. The second has an octagonal shape, which is a design that goes back to the Mameluke era (May 2, 1250-March 26, 1517). The third holds a cylindrical shape, which emerged during the Ottoman era (July 27, 1299-November 1, 1922). The crowning lantern covered with gold-glass mosaic goes back to the Fatimid era (909-September 13, 1171).

The word “Minaret” derives from the Arabic word "?????", meaning lighthouse, so it is fitting that the library, a source of knowledge and education, is uniquely located at the minaret. It is the only library to be found in a minaret.

The Courtyard (Sahan)

The courtyard (Sahan) is usually found in larger ‘Grand’ mosque structures. It is an open area, usually has a shape of square or rectangular. The courtyard is used by worshipers during significant Islamic prayers and large gatherings such as the holy month Ramadan ("?????"), Eid Al-Fitr ("??? ?????" = "Feast of Breakfast") and Eid Al-Adha (Feast of Sacrifice). ?The courtyard can accommodate up to 31,000 worshipers and the area is approximately 17,400 m2.

Many thousands of finest marble pieces make up the design including beautiful floral elements and mosaic. The designs were illustrated by British artist Kevin DEAN.

The edges adorned using different types of flowers that grow in the Middle East such as Tulip, Lily and Iris.?

External Columns

The arcades of the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque (SZGM) are flanking by thousands of columns, which are made of white marble panels, inlaid with precious and semi-precious stones such as lapis lazuli, red agate, amethyst, abalone shell and nacre. Their overall design has been inspired from a valued tree throughout Arabia, the date palm.? From the golden capitals (anodized aluminum colored with golden color) which are in the shape of a palm treetop.

The Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque (SZGM) has 1,096 columns around the arcade. Each piece was hand-carved and inlaid by craftsmen here on site and they used a special inlay technique called “Pietra Dura” which began firstly in Italy 16th century and reached Mughals in the early 17th century, and perhaps the most exquisite example is the columns of Taj Mahal in India.

Marbles

The pure white colour of the Mosque has become one of its most distinguishing characteristics.? Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, may Allah rest his soul in peace ,the founder of the Mosque was fond of the colour white, a symbol of purity and piety.? The Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque (SZGM) is cladded with numerous quantity of white marble on the external surfaces.

The internal elevations of the main prayer hall feature traditional geometrical Islamic designs with a unique floral addition.?

Lunar Illumination

The unique lightning system was designed to reflect the phases of the moon. Soft undulating clouds of a bluish gray colour are projected onto the white marble external surfaces of the mosque including the fa?ade and domes.? Each day appears a little different from the next as the lighting cycle commences with darker clouds when the month is in its early stages and the moon is a small crescent.? As the moon progresses through its cycle and becomes full, so does the lightning effect become more brilliant.? There are 22 light towers consisting of an efficient number of light projectors to achieve this creative effect.

Reflective Pools

The mosque is surrounded by rectangular pools tiled in different shades of blue, which extend over 7,874 m2. They reflect the mosque’s magnificent arcades and columns and become even more spectacular by the lighting at night.

Internal Columns

96 columns stand in groups of 4 contribute to the structural support for the 3 main domes. The columns in the main prayer hall are clad with white pure marble inlaid with mother-of-pearl vines. This work was completed mainly by hand in Dongguan ("东莞市"), China.

Carpets

The main prayer hall houses the world’s largest hand-knotted carpet. The intricate Islamic medallion design was made by third generation carpet maker and artist, Dr. Ali Khaliqi.?The predominantly wool carpet was hand-crafted by approximately 1,200 artisans.

Its creation was a 2 year project, the design took approximately 8 months, the knotting 12 months and the remaining time to transport, trim and weave the pieces together. The final single piece carpet is 5,700 m2, about 70% being wool and the rest of 30% is cotton.?

Chandeliers

There are 7 crystal chandeliers made by Faustig (Munich, Germany) situated inside the halls and foyers. The largest (located in the main prayer hall and considered one of the world’s largest in a mosque and is weighing approximately 12 tonnes.

Faustig worked on this project for approximately 2 years, developing and manufacturing crystals for it together with Swarovski that are quite unique. The self-supporting luminaire bowl is equipped with crystal panels, their rich play of colours enhancing the floral design. The chandelier weighs 10 tonnes. Manufacturing the numerous cut sections required, fitting them to the frame, and giving the bowls the correct curvature while taking the colour sequences into consideration was an achievement that will probably remain unique worldwide. The chandelier is 10 meters in diameter and 15 meters high, with an 18-kW Light-Emitting Diode (LED) system.

2 smaller versions of the same design (located also in the main prayer hall) are weighing 8 tonnes each. 4 blue coloured chandeliers of similar design and size are located in the foyer entrances surrounding the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque (SZGM). The largest of them is weighing about 2 tonnes and located in the main foyer entrance.

All chandeliers are made from gilded stainless steel and gilded brass (approx. 40 kg of 24 carat galvanized gold was used). Glass panels studded with Swarovski crystals were installed in all of them.

Pulpit (Menbar)

The Menbar is located on the right of the Menbar of Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque (SZGM) and includes 11 steps in allow the imam to sit in a clear location to address the large number of worshippers that Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque (SZGM) receives.?

It features floral and shell designs which are made of carved cedar wood inlaid with mother of pearl, glass mosaic and white gold.? It has a small dome shaped ‘roof’ and crescent finial at the top of the stairs. ?

The Niche (Mihrab)

The Niche (Mihrab = "???????") is an essential architectural element of a mosque and symmetrically located in the middle of the Qibla Wall ("????"). Its design is inspired by one of the references to ‘Heaven’ or ‘Paradise’ in the Holy Quran (Surah Mohammed-15) that describes the existence of many abundant rivers in heaven including a river of honey and milk.?

The yellow golden leaf-glass mosaic of the Niche seems to flow downwards from the ‘beehive’ feature at the top, as if it were a river of golden honey. The reason why the Niche is in a half circle shape is related to the pre-electronic times when it helped to project the imam’s voice so that the worshippers could hear him. The Niche is traditionally known as the place where the imam will stand to lead the worshippers.