1On the Corniche between the sea and the university, like a solar disc – emblem of the god Amun – inclining towards the shore, the Bibliotheca Alexandrina has become one of the landmarks of Alexandria’s city centre. It stands close to the presumed site of the ancient library in the Eastern Harbour where the Royal Quarter of the Ptolemies was located. The group of buildings sit on the eastern edge of the bay, looking across the water towards the 15^th-century fortress of Qaitbay.

In the footsteps of a legendary library

2The University of Alexandria had expressed the desire for a new central library back in the 1970s, but it was UNESCO’s involvement in 1987 that endowed the project with an international dimension, making explicit reference to the legend of the ancient library whose spirit was to be reborn.

3The original library was destroyed and rebuilt several times, and finally disappeared in the early centuries AD for reasons that are still debated – the ravages of war between Caesar and Pompey, a tsunami set off by seismic activity, the consequences of the Arab conquest of Egypt. The ancient institution was a place of scholarship in the fields of philosophy, the arts and the sciences, collecting and translating into Greek all known works, recording the knowledge of different peoples, and attracting intellectuals from the entire world. It was one of the first ever research centres. In the collective imagination it embodied the grandeur and universality of the ancient city, which had been founded in 331 BC by Alexander the Great and stood as an emblem of the encounter of peoples and cultures, of East and West.

4As had been done to safeguard the monuments of Nubia at the end of the 1960s, UNESCO launched an international campaign to raise financing for the new library project. A conference in Aswan in February 1990 mobilised several heads of state from the Gulf and from Europe (in particular Francois Mitterrand of France) and resulted in the creation of an international commission dedicated to the library. For the Egyptian authorities, this grand development project, described by Suzanne Mubarak as “the world’s window on Egypt and Egypt’s window on the world”, was intended to revitalise the town as a cultural and touristic centre of the Arab world.

Exceptional architecture

5The actual library complex is composed of three constructions linked by underground passages around an esplanade dotted with olive trees. There is the Conference Centre, which predates the overall project, the spherical Planetarium, and the new Library building, partially surrounded by water and housing an immense reading room with seating for 2000 cascading down over seven levels. The majesty of this hall, punctuated with pillars topped with lotus flowers, compared with the simplicity of the entrance hall reflects the classic contrast of Mamluke architecture. A footbridge traverses the complex, from the Corniche to the university, and a curving wall of granite engraved with letters from some 120 alphabets envelopes the new building. The futuristic design is the work of a Norwegian firm, Snøhetta, which won the international competition launched by UNESCO with the support of the UNDP. The emphasis laid by the young architects on the idea of a bridge between past and future proved seductive. Construction lasted for some ten years and was controversial due to the cost (approximately $250 million), the proximity to the sea, and the discovery of archaeological remains during work on the foundations.

7.10 The main building of the Bibliotheca Alexandrina, 2002

A digital library, a humanist centre

6From the outset the library lent towards three languages (Arabic, English and French) and the application of digital technology, positioning itself to be an international centre of online archives and a documentation hub networked into other libraries. Housing four museums, a conference centre, and libraries for children and for the sight-impaired, the overall cultural establishment has spurred a certain momentum within Alexandrian cultural life since the beginning of the 2000s. The human chain that was formed by locals to protect the building in 2011 revealed a feeling of ownership and of pride within the community.

7The institution is recognised as a legal entity depending on the presidency of the republic and is endowed with a certain financial security thanks to the interest generated by a restricted-access bank account and to donations from benefactors. It has a declared mission to combat extremist ideologies through its advertised adherence to openness, dialogue and exchange, and opposition to the notion of the “clash of civilisations”.

7.11 International support network of the Bibliotheca Alexandrina