SHAFAQNA- IQNA: The library of the Holy Shrine of Imam Ali (A.S.) in Najaf was inaugurated in presence of Iraqi and Iranian officials. The library is located at Hazrat Zahra (S.A.) courtyard of the shrine. The building was inaugurated in a ceremony attended by Hojjatul-Islam Seyyed Mojtaba Hosseini, the Leader’s representative in Iraq, Head of the Awqaf and Charity Affairs Organization Hojjatul-Islam Seyyed Mehdi Khamoushi, and officials of the Astan of Imam Ali’s (A.S.) shrine and the Reconstruction Organization (Atabat).
Having an area of 3,700 square meters, the library has been designed by Iranian engineers and constructed in five stories with the efforts of the Reconstruction Organization (Atabat). A special section has been dedicated to maintaining historic manuscripts and a whole floor will focus on reviving these old texts using advanced equipment.
The building also bears separate spaces for meetings and ceremonies besides reading rooms. The library has the capacity of maintaining 1 million books and half of this capacity has already been filled. Hazrat Zahra (SA) courtyard is among the biggest expansion projects around Imam Ali (AS) shrine with a total area of 220,000 square meters. The courtyard consists of pilgrimage and non-pilgrimage sections and part of the project was opened some five years ago.