Alexandria Library a dream to come true soon
Egypt, Education, 6/26/2001

The Great Library of Alexandria, which was probably established by Ptolemy I ( 305-285 BC), was the most important centre of learning in ancient times.

The library of 700,000 volumes and manuscripts was initially built alongside the Shrine of the Muses and annexed to Ptolemy's palace. But the library was burned down in the third century AD causing great cultural losses.

Although the papyri themselves have not survived the legacy of the library can be measured in terms of such writers as Apollonius of Rhodes and Aristophanes of Byzantium, who both served as director of the great library. In modern times the revival of the library was always a dream, but now it will soon come true.

With the support of UNESCO, funds were allocated for rebuilding and equipping the library so it could take up its role once again, and an international Committee for supporting the campaign was formed.

Revival of Alexandria library

In 1984, an ambitious project was proposed aiming at establishing a big library that would commemorate, the Alexandria historical library and that would be on the same footing with modern knowledge and scientific revolution .

Preliminary Steps

An executive committee was established by a decision of the Chairman of Alexandria University in January, 1987; then a higher national committee was formed by virtue of a Prime Minister's decree, followed by a presidential decree in December 14,1988 forming the General Organization for Alexandria Library headed by Mrs Suzane Mubarak.

President Mubarak, accompanied by the UNESCO Director General, laid the foundations of the new library on June 26,1988.

In 1989, an International Competition for establishing the library in which 1366 groups from 77 countries participated, was launched. An international arbitration committee chose the best design which was made by " Snowhita" organization, the Norwegian company that ranked first.

The building of the Alexandria Library will be circular in shape like the sun which provides light, warmth, wisdom and hope for mankind. The building process will last for 48 months and cover an area of about 45,000 m2. There will be 4 floors in the basement and 6 floors above the ground thus, representing the past, the present and the future. The alphabets of all ancient and modern languages will be inscribed on the library's walls. The internal design will be on several levels like a waterfall.

The phases of implementation.

The first phase started on May 15,1995 and ended on December 21,1996. It included the four floors basement.

The second phase will be completed in February 1999. In mid 1999, the library will be opened to be an Egyptian reality of civilization on the threshold of the 21st century, radiating on the nieghoring and the whole world countries.

The library is a model of civilizations.

The new Alexandria library to be inaugurated in mid 1999, has its own advanced equipment to be a nucleus for world information that interacts with rapid international developments and the communication between North and South civilizations and East and West heritages.

The new library will be one of the biggest libraries all over the world. It will contain about 8,000,000 books in addition to big halls for reading and research, places for selling books, an institute of library studies, information systems studies and a museum of science as well as a museum of famous scientists and researchers.

Recently, 2000 books and references were received as a gift from France, Scholarships for training librarians have been also offered and experts in the field of libraries and information have been sent to provide advice and experience. After the completion of the second phase, the library will be provided with the most recent data system costing 35 million franks. Spain offered Egypt rare books and references, while the Norwegian government sent models of the furniture offered to the library.

After the completion of the building, a higher institute of information and a centre for businessmen will be established, C.D multimedia is currently produced to facilitate information on the heritage of the old library and the new library role in reviving this heritage and enriching the intellectual and scientific movement. A prospectus on Alexandria Library will be issued in Arabic, English and French.

Previous Stories:
  'Reading For All' Festival starts summer activtes   (6/19/2001)
  'Read for your kids' Mrs. Mubarak's new call   (5/22/2001)
  Alexandria library, a true successor of its ancient manestuke   (5/22/2001)

Please add a link on your webiste pointing to ArabicNews.com and bookmark ArabicNews.com & subscribe to our daily email news bulletin.

Search