Betsy Westendorp reveals records of ancient culture / Songs and Symphony tonite

The following report, sent me by the celebrated Spanish painter-portraitist Betsy Westendorp, reveals hitherto unknown sources of ancient and not-so-ancient culture in various forms. (Translation supplied by RLO.)

This is not only worth sending out but is, in fact, a duty to be doing so.

It combines (and unifies) maps, write-ups, engravings and films of all eras, and explains in seven languages the treasures and cultural relics of all the world’s libraries. It has, above all, an expected patrimonial character, The Nation Abdelaziz Abid, coordinator of the projects initiated by the UNESCO and 32 other institutions.

The BDM does not offer current documents, but has the value of patrimony which permits the better understanding and appreciation of the cultures of the world in different languages: Arabian, Chinese, English, French, Russian, Spanish and Portuguese. But there are documents in more than 50 languages.

Among the more ancient documents, there are some old pre-Colombian manuscripts, thanks to the contribution of Mexico, and the first maps of America drawn by Diego Gutierrez for the King of Spain in 1562, explains Abid. The treasures include the Hyakumanto darani, a document in Japanese published in 764 and considered the first printed historical text; works of Arabian scientists which unravel the mysteries of algebra; bones used as Chinese oracles; ancient Latin-American photos in the National Library of Brazil. It is easy to decipher them.

Each treasure of universal culture is accompanied by a brief explanation of its content and significance. The documents were examined and incorporated in their original language but the explanations are in seven languages, among them Spanish.

The library starts with some 1,200 documents which are capable of being transformed into unlimited texts, engravings, maps, photographs and illustrations. How do they fit into the global picture? Although they will now be presented officially to the UNESCO, in Paris, the world’s digital library, they are already available on the Internet through sitiowww.wdl.org. Access to it is free, and the users can directly access through the web without having to register.

Allow the interested party to search for epochs, geographic zones, specific type of document or institution. The system offers explanations in seven languages: Arabian, Chinese, English, Russian, Spanish and Portuguese. The documents, for their part, have been discovered in their original language.

With a simple click, one can go over the pages of a book, come near or distance one’s self from the various texts and move them in any way. The excellent definition of the images permits a comfortable and detailed lecture. Among the treasures which are momentarily contained in BDM are the Declaration of Independence of the US, as also the contribution of various countries; the newspaper of a studious Venetian who accompanied Ferdinand Magellan on his voyage around the world; the original of Lafontaine’s “Fables”; the first published book in the Philippines written in Spanish and Tagalog; the Gutenberg Bible, and some African paintings that date back to 5000 A.D.

Two regions of the world are particularly well-represented: America and the Middle East, this owing to the active participation of the National Library of Brazil, the Alexandrina Library of Egypt and the King Abdula University of Saudi Arabia.

The structure of the BDM was derived from the digitalization project of the Library of Congress which began in 1991, and actually contains 11 million documents online. Those behind the project affirm that the BDM is open, above all, to investigators, academicians and students. But its importance goes beyond them — to future generations who will live in the audio-visual world.

The project is not a simple compendium of history online; it is the possibility to access intimately, without time limit an invaluable, unique case which everyone of us has dream of knowing.

Betsy Westendorp, through her report, is doing a tremendous service to all those who wish to broaden their knowledge and understanding of world cultures.

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“Songs and Symphony,” a concert of European arias with the PPO under French conductor Michael Costeau, will be held tonight at 8 at the CCP main theater. Costeau was in Manila three years ago for the “French Connection” and now came with two Paris Conservatory voice experts who conducted a master class for singers who will perform tonight.