Al-Jazari and his Book of Inventions

800 years ago, a brilliant Muslim engineer in southeast Anatolia amazed the world with his incredible machines: water clocks, pumps, combination locks, and even mechanical robots that could pour a drink!

At the request of the sultan he served, he wrote a book describing all 50 of his amazing inventions, calling it The Compendium on the Theory and Practice of the Useful Mechanical Arts. Filled with colorful and detailed illustrations showing how each invention worked, this book is not just a record of past technology — it’s also a window into the creativity and artistic flair of this medieval master and his time.

Visit the website now to discover the fascinating life and groundbreaking work of this medieval genius!

“The kings of my time and the philosophers of my epoch took an interest in me, and from this
the seedling of my confidence bore fruit. I spent the nights of my industry and caused my sleeping
ambition to stand up and awoke my sleeping genius. I was engrossed in diligence and consumed
strength and passion. I found that some of the earlier scholars and sages had made devices and
had described what they had made. They had not considered them completely nor had they
followed the correct path for all of them, for every [part] of constructional knowledge was not
verified in practice, and so wavered between the true and the false. So I assembled the divisions
that they had separated and put forth branches from roots where they had been correct, and
devised specimens which worked splendidly, light internally and externally”

Al-Jazari

The Book of Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Devices