Countdown begins for opening Alexandria Library

The Mediterranean city of Alexandria has started the countdown to kick off the 21st century's tremendous cultural event on April 23. Royalty, heads of state, dignitaries, celebrities and internationally renowned intellectuals will take part in the inaugural ceremony of Alexandria Library, known to history as the Bibliotheca Alexandria.

The festivities, which will be attended by Mrs Suzanne Mubarak, will mark the library's revival after more than 1600 years. Under the Greek dynasty in the fourth century, Alexandria established itself as the world's intellectual and commercial metropolitan city.

Being the meeting point of the three continents, Asia, Africa and Europe Alexandria also evolved into a cultural and social mosaic due to the influx of ethnic groups.

The world's greatest minds including Euclid, Erastosthenes, Heron and Archimedes gave accreditation to the city as the world's first university.

This unprecedented cultural project has crowned enormous efforts launched by Egypt, in collaboration with the international community, to efface the disaster that was caused when a huge fire engulfed the library. At that time the library had 700,000 listed and classified manuscripts.

Today's Bibliotheca Alexandria is designed to hold up to eight million titles and 10,000 manuscripts. Dr Youssef Zidan, Director of the Manuscripts Department, explained that the library has 3000 rare books, including an ancient book on the history of Germany.

"This book was published in 1575," Dr Zidan said "and we also have three original copies of Le Description d' egypte."

The modern version of Bibliotheca Alexandria, which will throw open its doors to the public on April 25, combines the past with the present. Its elaborate architectural design and hi-tech equipment will re-create its role as a centre of cultural, scientific and academic research.

Bibliotheca Alexandria is also well-equipped to sponsor intensive studies on historical and contemporary cultural heritage in the Middle East and Africa. It has valuable collections of scientific and technological resource materials to help the socio-economic and cultural development studies of Egypt and regional nations.

The idea of dusting the ashes of the great library came in 1973 when Alexandria University initiated a high-level team to conduct the required studies. In 1985, Alexandria University donated the land to begin the project and on 26 June 1988 President Hosni Mubarak laid the foundation stone and issued a republican decree that established the General Authority for the Alexandria Library.

On 12 February 1990 a memorable meeting took place in the Upper Egyptian city of Aswan when members of the International Honourary Commission including heads of state and international dignitaries signed the Aswan Declaration for the Revival of the Ancient Library of Alexandria and donated more than $65 million.

The declaration explained that the planned library would be the first on such a scale to be designed and constructed with the assistance of the international community.

The concept of the library's design is a simple circle inclined towards the sea, partly submerged in a pool of water, the image of the Egyptian sun.

The elaborately sun-lit inclined roof allows a clear view of the sea. Designed as an arrow, an elevated passageway links the University of Alexandria to the Corniche.

A wall clad with Aswan granite engraved with hieroglyphic figures surrounds the 11-storey building, which recreates the glory of ancient Egyptian civilisation.

Thanks to its unique location Egypt was the 'cradle of civilisation' in ancient times and was also the melting-pot in which the world's great civilisations combined and interacted over centuries.

The library's elaborate design, which covers more than 40,000 metres square, has space for cultural facilities for children, the blind and businessmen. Moreover, the library has a well-equipped laboratory for restoration work and a grand conference centre.