“Zayed, A Visual Journey”, Western Journeys, Reading Historical Documents and Others
The National Library and Archives Organizes a Rich Program of Cultural Lectures and Dialogue Seminars at Abu Dhabi International Book Fair

The National Library and Archives (NLA) organized several national cultural events in the 33rd edition of Abu Dhabi International Book Fair (ADIBF), The diversity of the events attracted the attention of visitors from different categories.
In the dialogue seminar on the book: “Zayed, A Visual Journey”, moderated by Mr. Waled Ghilan with Mrs. Nouf Al Junaibi, Chief Editor of Liwa Magazine. Al Junaibi stated: “This precious book, with its distinguished cover and valuable content, contains many pages that share historical pictures depicting the life and achievements of the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan.”
She pointed out that the book also documents aspects of the key role of the late Sheikh Tahnoon bin Mohammed Al Nahyan, as a companion to Shiekh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan.
Al Junaibi added: “The book, “Zayed, A Visual Journey”, consists 448 large-format pages, and has 640 precious photographs selected from the special collections held by the photo archive in the NLA. This has made the book a visual encyclopedia of rare photos of Sheikh Zayed, highlighting his great legacy, noble values, and love for his country.
In another seminar organized by the National Library and Archives entitled: “A Glimpse into Western Traveler literature and its impressions and observations”, researcher Dr. Mani Bu Naama reviewed the most significant and prominent works of Western travelers to the Gulf region and the Arabian Peninsula. These travelers came from diverse backgrounds and origins, including Portugal, the Netherlands, France, Britain, America, and others. He clearly discussed their goals, desires to venture, inspect, learn, and discover the Eastern magic, its culture, heritage, and rich ancient past with contains tales and stories.
These travelers have recorded their views, impressions, and collected much information, including cultural, social, political, and economic facts related to the diaries and life of the Gulf society, especially the Emirati society.
Dr. Bu Naama emphasized the discrepancy in the validity and variation of the information recorded by the travelers, as it was written according to the purpose and the need of writing it. He added that the writings of travelers are filled with many images stored in their memories, observations, and impressions about the region and the lives of its people, their culture, habits, and traditions, and what they found striking and what caught their attention. They delved into describing the land and its geography, terrain, climate, resources, land and sea, atmosphere, and its inhabitants, along with their political, social, and cultural status, customs, traditions, and practices.
The National Library and Archives platform also organized a dialogue seminar entitled “The Role of Translation Institutions in Enhancing Cultural Exchange and Dialogue of Civilizations: The National Library and Archives as a Model”. The seminar was presented by Professor Dr. Saddik Gouhar, the expert in translation at the National Library and Archives, and researcher Mr. Waleed Ghilan. The seminar reviewed the history of translation in Europe and the Arab and Islamic world, then they shifted to the current state of translation in the Arab world and its challenges.
The National Library and Archives has also hosted a lecture on reading historical documents, by Mrs. Fatma Al Mazrouei, Head of Historical Archive Section at the Archive Department in the National Library and Archives. She identified the historical document and emphasized its significance in preserving material and moral heritage and documenting the history of the development of cities and buildings, as well as the historical importance of economic, social, and cultural aspects of the societies and their development.
Moreover, she listed the types of documents and historical sources and spoke about the sources, which, the NLA relies on to obtain the historical documents.
The lecture showed a perfect model of the union records as an important and live example on the Arabian Gulf Digital Archive (AGDA) platform, aiming to provide researchers with documents, photos, maps … etc.