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Some 2,000 years ago, Alexandria drew to its ancient library and Temple of the Muses -- the Mouseion -- the luminaries of the ancient world: Archimedes, Euclid, Eratosthenes, St Mark and Manetho, to name only a few. Within its walls, the first translation of the Old Testament from Hebrew into Greek was made. The institution and the city came to symbolise diversity, culture and boundless learning, and it was the point at which cultures and civilisations met and flourished. It is this legacy that today's Bibliotheca Alexandrina -- the ultramodern, 11-storey disc-shaped structure standing proudly on the Chatby Corniche in Alexandria -- continues to evoke.
On the occasion of the first anniversary of the Bibliotheca Alexandrina, Al-Ahram Weekly takes stock of a new legacy in the making
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A sphinx of Ramses II taken from Heliopolis to adorn the surroundings of the Sarapeion. Behind it is Pompey's Pillar.
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A work in progress
By Mrs Suzanne Mubarak
Tapping into profound currents
Why is E=MC2 so amazing? In an exclusive interview with Al-Ahram Weekly, the Bibliotheca Alexandrina's director Ismail Serageddin talks to Fatemah Farag about releasing the mind to discover a world beyond the pale of imagination
Friendly science
Reem Nafie stargazes at the Bibliotheca Alexandrina's Planetarium Science Centre
No adults allowed
Learning for all ages at the Bibliotheca. Amira El-Noshokaty reports
Conditional knowledge
Youssef Rakha enters the peculiar world of the Bibliotheca Alexandrina's Manuscripts and Rare Books Centre
Window on the word
A year after the opening of the Bibliotheca Alexandrina, the virtual library is gaining prominence. Dena Rashed steps into the library's digital world
A battle of two cities
Can the modern city of Alexandria grow without obliterating the last vestiges of its history? Nevine El-Aref investigates
Archaeologist with a mission
French archaeologist Jean-Yves Empereur tells Al-Ahram Weekly about his 13-year-long quest to preserve the ancient city of Alexandria
Madame Christina: A place apart
The Elite, restaurant-bar-café, and its proprietor, Mme Elite, feature prominently on the imaginative map of cultural Alexandria...
The return
As old as the city which they founded, the Greek link with Alexandria was reestablished in a big way during the 19th Century. Euthimios Soulogiannis provides a brief account of Egyptiot history
Memories for sale
In the heart of old Alexandria, the relics of history are sold off wholesale. Fatemah Farag shops at Al-Attarin
Strictly to specifications
The design is Norwegian, the construction, Egyptian. And it's been a marvelous feat of engineering. Al-Ahram Weekly interviews Mamdouh Hamza, the man behind the building
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