It’s a collision of history and culture, where the sea crashes into the coast and Egypt’s storied past passes the baton on to its future. It’s a partnership of symbolism and functionality, a rare melting pot for Egypt’s stratified social structure.
Welcome to the Bibliotheca Alexandrina, known in English as the Library of Alexandria, a throwback to the ancient library that stood, experts say, only a couple of hundred yards from the library’s modern incarnation.
The ancient library was among the most advanced centers of learning in the world. Mathematicians and philosophers like Eratosthenes and Euclid studied there while others made astronomic and biological discoveries.
But the building faced a slow demise, beginning with the 48 B.C. Alexandrian War and ending in the third century.
“The ancient Library of Alexandria defined libraries differently,” said chief librarian Sohair Wastawy. “The ancient library embodied learning: plays, poetry, writing.”
But seven years after its founding, the modern Library of Alexandra is struggling to find such a purpose for itself — to balance its role as a cultural center and a repository of written knowledge.
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