9. The House of Wisdom was just that – a library that contained almost all the knowledge in the world and was the intellectual heart of Baghdad.
It was towards the end of the 8th century that Caliph Haround Al-Rasheed decided to build a new library. Several of his predecessors had shared his love of leaning and he had inherited a vast collection of books and manuscripts in a number of languages. The ruler ordered the construction of a place to store them all. He called it Khizanat al-Hikma, or the House of Wisdom. His son, Caliph Al-Ma’um expanded the building, adding new wings, each devoted to a different branch of knowledge. By 830, an observatory had been added, allowing experts to study the stars.
The Caliphs made full use of the city’s cosmopolitan atmosphere, employing foreigners as translators. This way, works from other cultures, including the writings of Greek philosophers such as Aristotle and thinkers like Hippocrates, could be made accessible to Islamic scholars. Users of the library were encouraged to contribute to its collections, while some visitors were so inspired by what they found in Baghdad that they went back home and established new libraries in Cairo or Toledo, Spain, for example. But tragically, the House of Wisdom was completely destroyed during the Siege of Baghdad in 1258.