Bibliotheca Alexandrina: Egypt’s Modern Library of Alexandria
On Alexandria’s Mediterranean coastline, close to where the ancient Library of Alexandria once stood, rises one of Egypt’s most striking modern landmarks: the Bibliotheca Alexandrina. Conceived as a symbolic revival of antiquity’s greatest centre of learning, this isn’t a reconstruction of the ancient library — it’s an entirely new, purpose-built institution honouring that legacy.
A Tribute to the Ancient Library
The original Library of Alexandria, founded in the 3rd century BCE under Ptolemy I (and completed under his son, Ptolemy II), was antiquity’s most famous centre of scholarship — home to scholars like Eratosthenes and Callimachus, and reputed to have held hundreds of thousands of scrolls before its eventual decline and destruction. The idea of reviving it in modern form was first proposed by an Alexandria University professor in 1972, later backed by the Egyptian government and UNESCO.
Design and Construction
Following an international design competition, Norwegian architecture firm Snøhetta won the commission with a striking concept: a vast, tilted circular disc emerging from the ground at an angle, evoking a rising sun. Construction began in 1995 and, after archaeological delays (workers uncovered Roman-era ruins on the site), the building was completed in 2001 at a cost of approximately $220 million, officially opening on October 16, 2002.
The library’s granite exterior is carved with over 4,000 characters representing scripts and alphabets from around the world. Just 40 meters from the Mediterranean shoreline, the complex spans 11 floors — four below ground, seven above — with a main reading room covering 20,000 square meters, capable of holding up to 8 million books.
What’s Inside
Beyond the main library, the complex includes:
- A planetarium and science museum
- The Manuscript Museum, home to roughly 30,000 rare manuscripts in Arabic, Turkish, and Persian
- The Antiquities Museum, tracing Egyptian history from the Pharaonic through Islamic periods
- A dedicated library for the blind and visually impaired
- Specialized children’s and young adult libraries
- A map collection of over 7,000 items focused on Alexandria, Egypt, and the wider Mediterranean
The library also holds significant international donations, including roughly 500,000 French-language books gifted by France — making it one of the largest Francophone library collections outside France itself.
Visiting the Bibliotheca Alexandrina
The library is open to visitors year-round, with guided tours available covering the main reading hall, museums, and the surrounding plaza. It pairs naturally with a visit to Alexandria’s other landmarks, including Pompey’s Pillar and the Catacombs of Kom El Shoqafa.
