Alexandria
The Bibliotheca Alexandrina was opened in 2002 near the site of the ancient Library of Alexandria, the great centre of learning of the Ptolemaic city. It is a…
The Bibliotheca Alexandrina was opened in 2002 near the site of the ancient Library of Alexandria, the great centre of learning of the Ptolemaic city. It is a library, research centre and group of museums, among them a museum of manuscripts that holds rare Arabic and Islamic manuscripts. Its tilted disc-shaped roof faces the sea, and its curved granite wall is carved with letters from scripts of the world. Inside, the main reading room descends in terraces under a glass roof. The library also houses an antiquities museum and a planetarium, and it stands on the Corniche in Shatby.