TAIPEI: The restoration of a 500-year-old handwritten Holy Quran, which was heavily damaged by time and elements, is likely to be completed by the end of April, according to the National Taiwan Library.
Only the book’s cover and binding are left to be repaired, said Hsu Mei-wen, a book restorer at the national library’s Book Hospital, who specialises in the restoration of ancient texts and calligraphy.
All the restoration work on the Quran should be finished by the end of April, she told CNA.
Two years ago, the Quran was presented as a gift to Dharma Master Cheng Yen, founder of the Taiwan-based Buddhist Tzu Chi Charity Foundation, by Faisal Hu, a Tzu Chi volunteer and Muslim based in Turkey.
Cheng Yen was leafing though her special gift one day, when she saw what looked like ants on some of the pages, and she later contacted the national library, Hsu said.
The “ants” were actually cigarette beetles, which are commonly found on old books, Hsu said, adding that the first step she took was to use an inert gas like nitrogen to get rid of the insects.
The actual restoration of the handwritten book was a long and painstaking process, she said, adding that it took her half a day to repair just one page.
Sourcing the right repair materials also took a lot of time and effort, Hsu said, citing the example of finding linen fibres to match the material of the Quran’s pages. That took eight months, as there was no similar material available at the usual suppliers, she said.
Eventually, Hsu said, she located some material at the national library’s warehouse, which appeared usable and was later dyed with a mineral pigment to create a similar look as that in the Quran.
During the restoration process, Hsu said, she removed old dust, seeds, and human hair from the tome, all of which she carefully collected and plans to preserve. That debris will also be displayed, alongside the restored Quran, in July, she added.
Hsu said that while she is neither Buddhist nor Muslim, she chose not to eat pork during the time she was working to restore the Quran.
The text in the Quran, which contains 75 chapters, was handwritten by four different people, using different inks, and was completed sometime around the 15th or 16th century, according to Hsu. — BERNAMA-CNA
