Museum Cuficum Borgianum (Rome 1782) is one of Jacob Georg Christian Adler’s works which traditionally mark the birth of Arabic palaeography. Almost a century ago the Russian Arabist Ignatij Kratchovsky considered Arabic palaeography an indispensable branch of knowledge that needed to be acquired. In 2023, however, Arabic palaeography is a discipline at risk. Rarely included in Oriental studies programs, Arabic palaeography is often confused with calligraphy and is absorbed into other fields relating to the study of artefacts, whilst being a philology-based discipline with a historical vocation. This contribution seeks to stress the value of Arabic palaeography as an essential discipline in the curriculum of students and (future) researchers and its potentials to enlarge and deepen historical and art historical research.

Cuficum Borgianum 博物馆（罗马，1782 年）是雅各布·格奥尔格·克里斯蒂安·阿德勒 (Jacob Georg Christian Adler) 的作品之一，传统上标志着阿拉伯古文字学的诞生。大约一个世纪前，俄罗斯阿拉伯学家伊格纳蒂·克拉乔夫斯基 (Ignatij Kratovsky) 认为阿拉伯古文字学是需要获得的不可或缺的知识分支。然而，到 2023 年，阿拉伯古文字学将成为一门面临危险的学科。阿拉伯古文字学很少被纳入东方研究项目，经常与书法混淆，并被吸收到与文物研究相关的其他领域，同时也是一门以语言学为基础、具有历史使命的学科。本文旨在强调阿拉伯古文字学作为学生和（未来）研究人员课程中的重要学科的价值，及其扩大和深化历史和艺术史研究的潜力。