Alexandria is the second-largest city in Egypt and the country's main seaport and industrial zone. It was once the capital of Egypt and the hub of world culture, science and literature, a position it occupied after its foundation in 331 BCE until at least the early centuries CE. However, like any other ancient city, Alexandria has had its ups and downs, these leaving everlasting marks on its cultural identity and diverse character. A city entails its opposites: in Alexandria's case, a city that was once a cosmopolitan centre of the entire Arab world is now a base for Salafist groups and hardline Islamist movements. It is a city that was once one of the most beautiful in the world, but is now appearing in the headlines because of failing infrastructure and corruption. The city's founder, Alexander the Great, dreamt of a new world centre, and during the city's first three centuries at least Alexandria was the leading cultural centre of the world. It was the world's intellectual capital and was famous for its library, which contained more than 500,000 books, as well as for the Pharos lighthouse, one of the Seven Wonders of the ancient world. Its necropolis was famous during the Middle Ages. Alexandria decayed after the 15th century, due to official neglect and natural disasters, but it began to flourish again in the 19th century, becoming a major centre of the booming cotton industry. The modern city then began to bear comparison with the ancient metropolis. Under the reign of Mohamed Ali, the Ottoman governor of Egypt after 1805, a process of modernisation began to emerge and Alexandria returned to something akin to its former glory. In the late 19th century Greeks, Italians and other European nationals began moving to the city to take advantage of its new prosperity, and the city became the home of novelists and poets. Alexandria regained something of its former glory, as intellectuals from all walks of life settled in the city, creating a cultural resurgence that was especially marked in the early decades of the last century. Alexandria became famous for its writers and thinkers, and it drew attention internationally because of the writers who wrote about it. This aspect of the city is reflected in the works of the Alexandria-born Greek writer Constantine Cavafy, the British novelists Lawrence Durrell and E M Forster, and the Italian writer Lucienne Carasso. The city lost its cosmopolitan character after the 1952 Revolution, when many Europeans began leaving it. By the 1970s, Alexandria had become a centre for the Islamist groups that had begun to flourish after the death of former president Gamal Abdel-Nasser. Salafism in Egypt originated when university students broke away from other Islamist groups, among them the Al-Gamaa Al-Islamiya, an umbrella network of Islamists that emerged in the 1970s, and in 1975 Alexandria University students created their own movement, the Salafist Call, or Al-Daawa Al-Salafiya. The Salafist Call was created due to political and ideological differences with the already existing Muslim Brotherhood, with those behind the new movement adopting their ideas from Wahabism, a Saudi Arabian brand of Islam, gathering around Salafist Call founder sheikh Mohamed Ismail Al-Mukadam. The Salafist groups concentrated in the universities and relied mainly on preaching and lecturing in mosques to spread their ideas. Leaders such as Sheikh Yasser Al-Burhami, Sheikh Ahmed Farid and sheikh Sayed Abdel-Azim became especially prominent. In 1986, the call developed when students founded the Al-Furqan Institute in Alexandria, a school for religious education. Through the institute, the movement spread across the country, becoming the main venue for the Salafist movement. The latter, over recent decades, has refrained from participating in politics, believing that this is corrupting and should therefore be avoided. Many traditional scholars also argued that rebellion against the ruler or governor was prohibited in Islam. One event that illustrates the groups' ideology took place in late 2010 when one of their members, Sayed Belal, was caught by police following the bombing of the Qiddisayn (Two Saints) Church in Alexandria on Christmas Eve and later died in prison. But it was not until the toppling of the former Mubarak regime in the 25 January Revolution that the Salafist movement got involved in politics, spawning three political parties, among them the Nour Party. The beats of modern Egyptian history can often be heard first in Alexandria, and the 25 January Revolution arguably started in the city after the death of a young activist, Khaled Said, in June 2010. The protests that followed fomented civil disobedience via social media, and the revolutionary movement then moved to Cairo after the parliamentary elections when it became clear to the protesters that whoever controlled Cairo's Tahrir Square controlled Egypt. Following the revolution, Alexandria suffered during the transitional period, with real estate speculators seizing the opportunity to destroy buildings and areas of the city and build haphazard new developments in narrow streets, destroying parts of Alexandria's architectural heritage. The city council stood aloof, and more than 65,000 illegal buildings were constructed in fewer than five years. Heritage villas were amongst the victims, and the sewage system swiftly became unable to deal with the pressure of increased waste water and rainfall. Alexandria's identity was disfigured despite calls to save the city from speculative builders. Later heavy rainstorms meant that the city was again submerged, this time aggravated by official corruption. Last October, Alexandria experienced severe flooding in which at least six people died as a result of 52mm of rain falling over a 24 hour period. The unseasonable rainstorms made the streets seem like rushing rivers, with the heavy rainfall flooding the coastal city. Millions of pounds worth of damage was caused, hundreds of vehicles were wrecked, and entire neighbourhoods were drowned. The downpour was five times the amount of rain the city normally experiences, and the city's infrastructure was unable to cope. The newly appointed governor, Hani Al-Messiri, submitted his resignation in a bid to contain the popular anger. However, major neglect and frail infrastructure, particularly poor drainage systems, likely aggravated the flooding. The World Bank has now warned that Alexandria is among the five top cities across the globe most at risk of flooding as a result of climate change, the others being Barranquilla in Colombia, Naples in Italy, Sapporo in Japan and Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic. Reports issued by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change have also warned that Alexandria's beaches could be lost as a result of rises in sea level. A 25cm rise would displace much of Alexandria's population of six million, and a 50cm rise would force millions more out of the fertile Nile Delta, which produces half of Egypt's crops and is vulnerable to saltwater intrusion as sea levels rise. Part of the catastrophe Alexandria faces is human-made, however. Investigation following October's flooding has revealed that corruption played a part in the failures of the sewage system. Officials in the Ministry of Housing had been tasked with upgrading the sewage system in west Alexandria at a cost of LE68 million to meet the demand of the growing population in the area. But according to the public prosecution, though the pumps were replaced with new ones, the newly acquired pumps did not meet the proper specifications, and they have still not been changed. Whether Alexandria is saved or not will depend on the officials who showed their support and sympathy with the city's residents after it was hit by devastating rains. In a surprise visit made by President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi in November, it was announced that LE1 billion would be allocated from Tahya Misr (Long Live Egypt) funds for the development of the sewage system in Alexandria and that of Beheira in northern Egypt.
