The IsIAO library was divided into two sections: 'African' and 'Oriental'. It contained some two thousand five hundred periodical publications (five hundred of which still extant), as well as other rare items such as manuscripts, xylographs, editions, maps and photographs. The
Photograph Library: The African section was inherited from the
Ministry of Italian Africa. It comprises some five-hundred thousand photographic prints and twenty thousand negatives. The Oriental section houses some five-hundred thousand photographs shot during missions organized by the institute. Approximately twelve thousand derive from
Giuseppe Tucci’s expeditions in the Himalayan region, including unique photographs of
Tibetan monuments that no longer exist. The
Map Library housed three thousand geographic maps (a total of fourteen thousand sheets), inherited from the Map Department of the Ministry of Italian Africa. The collection, which covers the final two decades of the 19th century and the first half of the 20th, is the largest of its kind in Italy. Former
Italian colonies covering the territories of present-day
Eritrea,
Somalia,
Libya, and
Ethiopia are heavily represented. The
Museum Collections: The Oriental collections were the property of the Institute, but were deposited in the
'Giuseppe Tucci' National Museum of Oriental Art in Rome. They consisted of materials uncovered during archaeological excavations, including a major collection of
Gandhara art. The African collections, which were conserved by the Institute, included Ethiopian paintings, wooden sculptures, furnishings, local craftwork, and archaeological finds, along with documents and curios belonging to Italian explorers and works of Italian artists who were active in the former colonies. ==Courses of African and Oriental languages and culture==