Timbuktu Manuscripts decline of traditional education in French Sudan). Their subject matter ranged from scholarly works to short letters. The manuscripts were passed down in Timbuktu families and were mostly in poor condition. Most of the manuscripts remain unstudied and uncatalogued, and their total number is unknown, affording only rough estimates. A selection of about 160 manuscripts from the Mamma Haidara Library in Timbuktu and the Ahmed Baba collection were digitized by the "Tombouctou Manuscripts Project" in the 2000s. With the demise of Arabic education in Mali under French colonial rule, appreciation for the medieval manuscripts declined in Timbuktu, and many were
Timbuktu Manuscripts an electronic database to catalogue the manuscripts held at the Institut des Hautes Études et de Recherche Islamique – Ahmad Baba (IHERI-AB); digitizing a large number of manuscripts held at the IHERIAB; facilitating scholarly and technical exchange with manuscript experts in Morocco and other countries; reviving IHERI-AB's journal "Sankoré"; and publishing the splendidly illustrated book, "The Hidden Treasures of Timbuktu: Rediscovering Africa's Literary Culture". Since the end of this project, the cooperation of Grand-Duché de Luxembourg has funded a new project called "Timbuktu Manuscripts". This project aims at protecting and promoting Timbuktu Manuscripts, for economic, social and cultural development of