by Last week, I had the opportunity to teach a four-day online course on Islamic paper (history, techniques and material analysis) as part of the teaching programme of the Quranic Manuscripts Initiative organised by Ahmed W. Shaker. The audience was very diverse, consisting of art historians, historians, archaeologists, doctoral students, experts in Islamic studies and law, from different countries (United States, Belgium, Germany, Qatar, France, Egypt).
This is the fifth time I have taught this course, either online or in person. But this time, the challenge was that Ahmed had asked me to give assignments to students online. I prepared files containing videos and photos of manuscripts under normal and transmitted light, most of which came from the BnF, and asked the students to write a report on the types of paper used to prepare these manuscripts, with the aim of distinguishing between European and Islamic-type papers and describing their characteristics. I would like to thank the enthousiastic participants who really got involved and showed that, despite the challenges of distance, Internet limitations and time differences, it is possible to teach a course based on technical knowledge and visual observation.
Here a feedback of the course by Dr. Reem Baza Researcher in Islamic Manuscripts and Archaeology, Ahmed Sadek Researcher in Islamic Military Architecture, Dr. Khaoula Trad Researcher at the Centre for the Study of Manuscript Cultures, University of Hamburg, and Prof. Abdallah El-Khatib (Qatar University).
Amélie Conservation 
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