Hill Museum & Manuscript Library

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	Ongoing Preservation Work
Project Profiles Lebanon Armenian Catholic Clergy Institute Bzommar, Lebanon Bibliothèque Orientale at the Université Saint-Joseph Beirut, Lebanon Our Lady of Balamand Monastery and University Tripoli, Lebanon Armenian Apostolic Catholicosate of the Great House of Cilicia Antelias, Lebanon Deir Mar Yuhanna al-Shuwayr (“Monastery of Saint John the Baptist at Shweir”) Khonchara, Lebanon Monastery of Saint George at Deir-esh-Shir Jounieh, Lebanon Université du Saint-Esprit Kaslik, Lebanon Deir el-Kreim, Lebanese Maronite Missionary Order Jounieh, Lebanon Knights of Malta Priory of Rome National Archives of Malta Syria Melkite Greek-Catholic Archdiocese of Aleppo Aleppo, Syria Syriac Orthodox Archdiocese of Aleppo Aleppo, Syria Syriac Catholic Archdiocese of Aleppo Aleppo, Syria Syriac Orthodox Archdiocese of Homs Homs, Syria Ukraine The Stefanyk Library of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine L’viv, Ukraine L’viv Historical Museum L’viv, Ukraine India Saint Thomas Christian Manuscript Collections Kerala, India Legacy Preservation Projects Austria/Germany/Switzerland British Isles Iberia Italy Malta South Africa Sweden Ethiopia	60+ Saint Thomas Christian Manuscript Collections Kerala, India Digital technicians Aravind Krishnan (foreground) and Mohammed Shareef C.V. photograph a palm leaf manuscript at the Syro-Malabar Major Archbishopric in Ernakulam, Kerala, India. Mr. Krishnan is a Hindu and Mr. Shareef a Muslim, testifying to the long history of interreligious harmony in Kerala. ©HMML 2008. HMML manages two mobile studios in the southwestern Indian state of Kerala, home of the more than 1700-year old Saint Thomas Christian churches. The studios are under the direct supervision of HMML’s partner in India, the Association to Preserve the Saint Thomas Christian Heritage (APSCH). The project was originally funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (German Reseach Foundation, or DFG) and administered by the University of Tübingen. The DFG and Tübingen remain important partners in the project. The Saint Thomas Christians believe that the Apostle Thomas himself founded their church in 52 AD. Modern scholarship confirms the existence of indigenous Christian churches in India as early as the 3rd century. The Saint Thomas Christian church flourished when it formally became part of the Assyrian Church of the East, whose missionaries during the 1st millennium ranged as far as Mongolia, China and Tibet, as well as India. In addition to more than 1000 manuscript books written in Syriac, as well as in local languages like Vattezuttu, Kolezhuttu, Old Malayalam and Tamil, HMML is partnering with APSCH to digitize as many as 100,000 palm leaf manuscripts written mostly in modern Malayalam. Learn about the Saint Thomas Christian churches.