Mauritania Archives - Umbra Sumus

It’s deeply saddening to discover that in Mali, militants seem to have systematically destroyed much of West Africa’s Islamic heritage by ransacking and torching the libraries that hold priceless Korans and Hadiths.

Some years ago I made a story in nearby Mauritania about the wind destroying the desert cities of Chinguetti and Oudane, both significant repositories of similar ancient manuscripts. I wrote:

“Once upon a time, the Wind grew jealous of the prosperous cities and resolved to bury them beneath the sands so that the only traces were old men and dusty books. So it was that the wind crashed against the purple stone mass of the Adrar, the mountain range that crosses Mauritania in West Africa. It blew until the rocks were carved into sculptures of fearful complexity. It blew until the dunes advanced and Chinguetti and Ouadane, two once mighty cities of scholars and traders of the Sahara, began to choke under the ocean of sand. Today they are almost gone…”

Mauritania - Chinguetti - A librarian reads a traditional Koran outside the Chinguetti Mosque — Mauritania – Chinguetti – A librarian reads an ancient Koran outside the Chinguetti Mosque

Mauritania - Chinguetti - — Mauritania – Chinguetti – Ancient books, Korans and lahs inside a traditional library

Mauritania - Chinguetti - A man hold a wooden lah covered in Koranic inscriptions — Mauritania – Chinguetti – A man hold a wooden lah covered in Koranic inscriptions

Mauritania - Chinguetti - A pile of priceless manuscripts in a desert library — Mauritania – Chinguetti – A pile of priceless manuscripts in a desert library

Mauritania - Chinguetti - A priceless Koran — Mauritania – Chinguetti – A priceless Koran

I’m currently going through a rather time consuming process with a really excellent editor, to upgrade my website and portfolios (more about this another time). The project involved going back over many of my stories and looking beyond the initial edit to images that were discarded or forgotten. Unfortunately, many of my originals have been lost or damaged over the years but I seem to have made some interesting discoveries: pictures that I’d forgotten about or simply overlooked. During the next weeks, I thought I might post some significant finds. I start with an image from a story in Mauritania about the wind and the desert.

Mauritania - Chinguetti - A sad woman in a house in Chinguetti.

I remember photographing this woman in a house and her looking terribly forlorn, distant and sad. I never could find out why. My notebook tells me that I was with her and her husband for only ten minutes. Sometimes, perhaps its better not to know…

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