The great library of Alexandria
You can find all kinds of destinations in Egypt. The big cities of the Mediterranean imported important libraries. Alexandria “the Pearl of the Mediterranean” is a very interesting city that attracts tourists for its beauty and its climate.
The attractions of Alexandria are many but it is famous for its library. The Library of Alexandria is considered the main destination in Alexandria. In its time in history, there was the largest library in the world. It is the largest library in Egypt.
The History of Alexandria Library
The first Library of Alexandria was built in the third century by Ptolemy I. His son Ptolemy II completed its construction and connection to the museum. The Ptolemies built the library to maintain Greek civilization.
During the third century, the library housed 400 thousand books. In the 5th century, the Library houses 700 thousand books. At first, the Library only housed the works written in Greek but later it housed the works of interest in any language. In 84 B.C. it was the first destruction of the Library by fire.
Then there were several attacks by Christians and Arabs and also an earthquake. In 1986 the Library was rebuilt by UNESCO. In 2002 the new Library of Alexandria was inaugurated, housing 20 million books.
The Construction of the Library of Alexandria
The design is a Norwegian style. It is 80 m2. The Library is dated in granite, cement, and glass, decorated with calligraphy in various languages.
Its cover reflects the god Ra (god of the south). The glass panels reflect the sun towards the Mediterranean. There is a museum of science, calligraphy and another one of archeology.
There is also a manuscript restoration laboratory, conference center, art gallery, and printing press. In the center of the Library, there is a hypostyle room for reading with a capacity of 2 thousand people. There are also six specialized libraries, one of which is dedicated to children.
Books; the Library has a large number of books almost 20 million. Some of these books are original and rare. There are 50 thousand maps, 100 thousand manuscripts, 50 thousand unique books, 100 thousand audio
multimedia, 50 thousand visual multimedia, and many others.
Excursions to Alexandria
The Library of Alexandria is one of the tourist attractions in Alexandria. Jakada Tours Egypt offers you the opportunity to visit Alexandria for our various vacation packages to Egypt where you can also find other destinations such as Cairo or Nile cruise between Luxor and Aswan, check them out, and choose your dream trip.
