Arabic scientific manuscripts at El Escorial
Royal Library of the Monastery of El Escorial. Patrimonio Nacional
As part of its ongoing effort to catalogue, digitise and publish online the unique documents in its bibliographic holdings, between 2025 and 2026 Patrimonio Nacional is undertaking to provide systematic descriptions of the Arabic scientific manuscripts in the Royal Library of the Monastery of El Escorial. The manuscripts consist of 508 titles in 193 volumes and include works on medicine, pharmacy, astronomy, astrology, mathematics, the occult sciences and the exact sciences. This valuable collection will be recorded pursuant to national and international cataloguing standards and made accessible online in accordance with European regulations on the reuse of public sector information.
The CEEH is helping fund this initiative through the Board of Trustees of the Fundación Amigos de la Biblioteca Nacional, teaming up with the Fundación Ramón Areces and the Sociedad de los 100 Bibliófilos in a collaborative endeavour to disseminate Spain’s bibliographic heritage.
