(article) Bibliotheca Alexandrina: An Ancient Library Goes Modern

Bibliotheca Alexandrina: An Ancient Library Goes Modern
Posted by Maria in Egypt; Things To See on 03/Mar/2007

My head has been buried in books from the very moment I learned to read. History has always been my favorite. I still vividly remember Mr. Bongi’s 6th grade social studies class, when we learned about ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia. We’d chant “Hammurabi! Hammurabi!” over and over. I didn’t always remember who he was or what he did, but the name was indelibly etched in my mind alongside Rameses, Cleopatra, and Alexander the Great.

Fast-forward fifteen years, and there I was in Alexandria, Egypt, named for that luminous conqueror now most unfortunately and inextricably linked with Colin Farrell. Nevertheless, it was with a lifetime of anticipation that I stood before the newly rebuilt Bibliotheca Alexandrina...

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The Bibliotheca Alexandrina has not met with unanimous praise, however. Critics decry the outrageous expense — around $220 million U.S. — for a library that, in essence, exists to impress the world. With half of Egypt's population unable to read, they feel the money would have been better spent on education and literacy initiatives.

Not sure I agree with the critics. First of all, the library can be one way to increase literacy, can it not? Secondly, it is something that will remain standing for years whereas under an alternative scenario, once the $220 m is spent (or siphoned off), there may be very little to show for it.

BTW, do you happen to know the name of the architectural firm who did this project?

i can see both sides of the debate, but definitely vote pro-library... in the two hours i was there, i saw maybe half a dozen people actually *using* the space, aside from the internet. schools groups toured the library like U.S. kids tour the smithsonian, like it's a national treasure not an active learning space. more tourists than egyptians. even our local egyptian guides only go there when they're leading tourists around town. so who's it for?

i'd say the next generation. those field trip kids were pretty amped on the space, and learning how to use it. the fact that egypt is looking forward into the "digital age" and providing widespread internet access is no small feat either. inevitably, it's just a matter of time before the library catches on. some people just don't have the foresight to see that.

the architecture firm is snøhetta from norway.
http://www.snoarc.no/default.asp?V_DOC_ID=715

One way or the other, it's good to know Alexandria is trying to stage a comeback. I was there in '95 and while the Roman ruins and the Souk were pleasant to visit, there were literally piles of fetid garbage in slum-like neighborhoods just outside the tourist zones, with same crap floating in the harbor. Major hotels in the main plaza were strangely empty. It's an incredible city that's underappreciated, I think, by the average tourist and underdeveloped for its own populace.