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Bibliotheca Alexandrina | Alexandria Library

At present day, The Bibliotheca Alexandrina is a revival of the legendary ancient library, which was the largest library in the ancient world. The original Alexandria Library, destroyed in a huge fire around 2000 years ago, contained works by Homer, Plato, Socrates, and many others, and used to be the centre of learning in the ancient world.  

The Bibliotheca Alexandrina is an 11-story library that sits along the ancient harbour in Alexandria. The library has 4 million volumes of books and can accommodate eight million books and 2500 readers. I saw carved letters, pictograms, hieroglyphs and 120 different human scripts on the granite exterior walls.

The Alexandria Library is also home to four permanent museums, a planetarium, a conference centre, lots of exhibitions, a children's library, a multimedia library, a library for the blind, and possibly many others.

The library building is a feast of architectural marvel combining ancient and modern styles. It spans 160 meters in diameter, 32 meters in height, and 12 meters into the ground in its circular, tilting form.

The timeless and bold circular design represents cyclical fluid knowledge throughout time and its tilting, glistering roof represents the ancient Alexandrian lighthouse providing Alexandria the light of knowledge.

I saw a reflecting pool and an open plaza surrounding the building. I also noticed something like a footbridge or overpass linking it to the nearby University of Alexandria.

The construction started in 1989 and completed in 2001. The Bibliotheca Alexandrina project was made possible by the global cooperation of 18 countries, oversighted by UNESCO. The architecture was completed by Norwegian Snøhetta, consisting of ten members from six different countries, who won the contract among 1400 entries.

A funny thing that makes me laugh to this day is that inside the museum I was so immersed in taking pictures and videos that I lost my group and had to complete the tour alone. I was able to meet them after the tour at the exit gate.