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Libraries are as the shrine where all the relics of the ancient saints, full of true virtue, and that without delusion or imposture, are preserved and reposed. Francis Bacon
Facing the Cornice of Alexandria and the Mediterranean Sea, the Bibliotheca Alexandrina, the venue of written history, is one of the most important landmarks in the second biggest city of Egypt, Alexandria. Every year it is not only attracting millions of tourists from all over the world, but also Egyptian tourists traveling to Alexandria especially in summer and making a stop at the Bibliotheca Alexandrina, taking pictures and enjoying the view and the facilities.
The library of Alexandria in the ancient times, was the cultural centre of education and knowledge during the Ptolemaic dynasty, attracting literates from all over the world, which was constructed in the 3rd century BC. It was “The place of the cure of the soul”, as it was engraved on one of the walls in the library. It contained the most important and valuable books and documents from the early beginning of writing. Unfortunately the library had been destroyed according to several history resources and most of the documents and books had either been destroyed or disappeared.
But dedicating the ancient library, today´s Bibliotheca Alexandrina was built near the sea starting in 1974, when a committee from the Alexandrian University decided to rebuild the library as a revival of a centre of knowledge and education. Today, Bibliotheca Alexandrina is facing the sea, as the ancient library was located more inside of Alexandria city.
The unique and amazing architecture of the Bibliotheca is inviting for a closer look, not only because of the outside surrounding with the artificial lake, but also because of the engravings on the outside wall, written in different languages.
The Bibliotheca itself is a heaven for every passionate reader, providing space for more than eight million books in Arabic, English and French and also offering a vast multimedia section especially for blind or impaired readers.
But even for less passionate readers, the Bibliotheca is presenting a huge variety of cultural events, such as open air concerts in the summer, musicals inside the theatre, a museum with cultural, historical, and artistic topics and exhibitions or the Planetarium showing 3D movies for all ages.
For me the Bibliotheca is a special place I like to go to, sit and watch the people, enjoying the sunset from one of the stairs, having a coffee and a cake in the restaurants nearby or attending the various open air concerts in the summer or the alternating exhibitions. Unfortunately I know all movies in the Planetarium already, otherwise I would do this also more often.
She has come to Egypt after her Translation and Cultural Studies to broaden her horizon, because she has the opinion that words connect people, thoughts make up minds and languages enable different cultures to communicate and come together. “The world is offering magnificent places to stay in, outstanding people to meet and a huge variety of different thoughts and ideas, why not discover them now”, she describes her love of travel.
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1 Comments on The Venue of Written History, Bibliotheca Alexandrina
Great Article! Keep on writing! :-)