ALEXANDRIA, Egypt, June 29 (Xinhua) -- Inside a laboratory at Egypt's Bibliotheca Alexandrina, white cotton fragments are boiled for two hours, thrashed into a milky pulp, hand-lifted onto bronze moulds, and pressed into sheets of paper.
The result is the country's first 100-percent locally sourced cotton paper, which has been designed not for printing, but for saving history.
Developed for the micro-restoration of ancient codices, rare books, maps and imperial decrees, the new archival-grade tissue is chemically neutral and physically durable. Unlike commercial wood-pulp paper, which yellows and crumbles with age, this Egyptian-made medium is engineered to protect fragile manuscripts for generations.
The project was born out of necessity. When the COVID-19 pandemic severed global supply chains, the library's conservation labs could no longer obtain the specialized imported papers traditionally used to mend ancient texts. Stocks ran low. Costs soared. Preservation work ground to a halt.
For decades, Japan and Italy held a near-monopoly on high-end restoration tissues, according to Hossam al-Deeb, head of the Conservation and Environmental Control Department at the library's Manuscript Center.
"This dominance relied on exclusive geographic advantages and generational secrets," al-Deeb said. "Japan led because native shrubs like Kozo yield uniquely long, resilient plant fibers"
Italy's leadership, he added, came from centuries-old mills like Fabriano, which guarded secret formulas perfected over generations.
To close the gap, Egyptian conservators undertook advanced fellowships in Japan and Italy, bringing the specialized knowledge back to their own labs.
After countless trials, they found a crucial local resource -- Egypt's "white gold" -- premium long-staple cotton fibers measuring between 35mm and 45mm.
By using clean white textile waste from local garment factories, the team avoided harsh chemical bleaching agents, giving their paper a distinct edge in chemical purity.
Soliman Ahmed, a lead laboratory conservator who participated in the development trials, said perfecting the cotton formula required moving past rigid chemical equations to master manual papermaking as an intuitive art form, where the craftsman physically judges the exact weight of the water and the pull of the screen.
The result is a feather-light, nearly translucent tissue that is virtually impossible to tear by hand and blends invisibly onto damaged manuscripts.
"The Egyptian Organization for Standardization and Quality has officially certified that our homegrown paper shatters the minimum global benchmarks for archival-grade durability," al-Deeb said.
He added that the library will soon supply other Egyptian manuscript and restoration centers with the paper and seek to export it worldwide.
At the quality control desk, Lamia Antar, head of the Specialized Fiber Manufacturing Unit, said the localized system has dramatically eased financial pressure.
"Importing a single sheet previously cost 6 U.S. dollars," she said. "Today, manufacturing this exact standard at home costs us nearly 1 U.S. dollar."
The unit now produces a lined version for codex restoration and an ultra-smooth version for fine artists. Every intervention follows international standards requiring all added materials to be 100 percent reversible, Antar said.
"With local production fully stabilized, we are actively pursuing international accreditation to export this premium paper to world-class museums," she said. "This step transforms Egypt from a vulnerable importer into an international hub for heritage preservation." Enditem
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