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It is a commemoration of the Library of Alexandria, once one of the largest libraries worldwide, which was lost in antiquity. The idea of reviving the old library dates back to 1974 when a committee set up by Alexandria University selected a plot of land for its new library.
Construction work began in 1995, and after some US$220 millions had been spent, the complex was officially inaugurated on 16 October 2002.
In 2010, the library received a donation of 500,000 books from the Bibliothèque nationale de France (BnF). The gift makes the Bibliotheca Alexandrina the sixth-largest Francophone library in the world.
The library has shelf space for eight million books, with the main reading room covering 20,000 square metres. The complex also houses a conference center; specialized libraries for maps, multimedia, the blind and visually impaired, young people, and for children; four museums; four art galleries for temporary exhibitions; 15 permanent exhibitions; a planetarium; and a manuscript restoration laboratory.
The idea of reviving the old library dates back to 1974 when a committee set up by Alexandria University selected a plot of land for its new library between the campus and the seafront, close to where the ancient library once stood. The recreation of the ancient library was not only adopted by other individuals and agencies, it garnered support from Egyptian politicians.
More information: Bibliotheca Alexandrina
One leading supporter of the project was former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak; UNESCO was also quick to embrace the concept of endowing the Mediterranean region with a center of cultural and scientific excellence. This initiative by the Egyptian government, UNESCO, and Alexandria University was undertaken with the aim of re-establishing Alexandria as one of the great intellectual and cultural centres of the twenty-first century.
UNESCO's involvement beginning in 1986 created a great opportunity for the project to truly be international in focus.
UNESCO organized an architectural design competition in 1988 to choose a design worthy of the site and its heritage. The competition was won by Snøhetta, a Norwegian architectural office, associated with Austrian architect Christoph Kapeller and Egyptian architect Ihab El Habbak, among more than 1,400 entries.
This architectural team consisted of ten members representing six countries. In addition, UNESCO created an International Commission for the Bibliotheca Alexandrina which consisted of high-level representatives from 18 diverse countries and organizations. Given UNESCO’s involvement and the investment by the international community, this project achieved its mission to play an educational, cultural, and scientific role throughout the region.
The Bibliotheca Alexandrina is trilingual, containing books in Classical Arabic, English, and French. In 2010, the library received a donation of 500,000 books from the National Library of France, Bibliothèque nationale de France (BnF). The gift makes the Bibliotheca Alexandrina the world's sixth-largest Francophone library. The BA also is now the largest depository of French books in the Middle East and North Africa, surpassing those of Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco, in addition to being the main French library in Africa.
More information: Snohetta
The library has shelf space for eight million books, with the main reading room covering 20,000 square metres on eleven cascading levels. The complex also houses a conference center; specialized libraries for maps, multimedia, the blind and visually impaired, young people, and for children; four museums; four art galleries for temporary exhibitions; 15 permanent exhibitions; a planetarium; and a manuscript restoration laboratory. The library's architecture is equally striking. The main reading room stands beneath a 32-meter-high glass-panelled roof, tilted out toward the sea like a sundial, and measuring some 160 m in diameter. The walls are of gray Aswan granite, carved with characters from 120 scripts.
The collections at the Bibliotheca Alexandrina were donated from all over the world. The Spanish donated documents that detailed their period of Moorish rule. The French also donated, giving the library documents dealing with the building of the Suez Canal.
Criticism of the library comes chiefly from two angles. Many allege that the library is a white elephant, unsustainable for modern Egypt, which serves little more than a vanity project for the Egyptian government. Furthermore, there are fears that censorship would affect the library's collection.
In addition, the building's elaborate architecture (which imitates a rising Sun) upset some who believed too much money was being spent on construction rather than the library's actual collection.
Due to the lack of available funds, the library had only 500,000 books in 2002, a small number compared to other national libraries. It has been estimated that it will take 80 years to fill the library at the current level of funding. The library relies heavily on donations to buy books for its collections.
More information: Arch Daily
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