Hala Halim witnesses a city transformed for the opening of the Bibliotheca Alexandrina For three days Alexandria was all contrast, caught between the stillness of a ghost town, albeit a thoroughly sanitised one, and the highest-profile event the city has witnessed in decades. The public sector, government offices, the university, schools -- all were given a holiday for the duration of the opening of the Bibliotheca Alexandrina. Rumour took care of the rest: the many closed shops, the stocking up on bread and cigarettes, the plans to commute by the Abu Qir train in case all other means of transportation came to a standstill. And through the becalmed city convoys drove across the revamped Corniche from Montazah Palace, to the Bibliotheca Alexandrina, to Ras Al-Tin Palace in a programme where speeches and performances variously made a bid for peace and highlighted intercultural dialogue, cosmopolitanism and hybridity. The sought-after mediatory role of an institution whose ancient Mediterranean appeal has gained it the support of the international community was thrown into relief against the current realities of the Middle East and the world post-11 September. At a press conference in Montazah, following lengthy bilateral talks about the region, President Hosni Mubarak and President Jacques Chirac expressed commitment to expending all efforts to avoid war in Iraq, as well as to contain Israeli-Palestinian violence through a return to the negotiating table. Folkloric music troupes and children with flowers greeted the guests -- heads of state, from France, Greece, Romania, the Maldives, together with Queen Sofia of Spain, Queen Rania of Jordan, and representatives of the UNESCO and the Vatican -- arriving at the Bibliotheca Alexandrina. After the uncovering of the memorial stone, homage was paid to Mrs Suzanne Mubarak, head of the Board of Trustees of the Bibliotheca Alexandrina, by different associations of Friends of the Library around the world. Minister of Culture Farouk Hosni then read a speech by Nobel laureate Naguib Mahfouz. In his address at the inauguration ceremony, President Mubarak stated that "the dedicated efforts that have supported the project of the revival of the Bibliotheca Alexandrina, on the same site from which it vanished 1,600 years ago, were motivated by a profound understanding of the signal role of the ancient library and its international role, and of the need to reassert the values it stood for, especially in view of the changes overtaking the world." The president went on to elaborate on the issues encapsulated in the opening of the library -- of intellectual interaction and coexistence, of the universality of human heritage that transcends national, cultural and religious constituent elements, of the Arabo-Islamic contribution to that heritage, and of the need to link past achievements with present technological advancement in such a way as to ensure an even distribution between the rich and the poor of scientific progress. The speech ended with an appeal for "a world where mutual coexistence and understanding reign, and peace and security prevail". The concert that followed brought a cosmopolitan repertoire of song recitals from different continents, including two lyrics -- those representing Asia and Europe -- centering on the theme of peace, and ending on the deliberately hybridised note of Beethoven's Ode to Joy arranged for Egyptian folk instruments and accompanied by an Arabic lyric. Compositeness, in a specifically Alexandrian context, was elaborated in the show "Alexandria: A Beacon and a Civilisation", presented by the Ministry of Culture, directed by Walid Aouni, which the dignitaries watched after dinner at Ras Al-Tin Palace. A model of the Alexandria lighthouse constructed on the shore of the Western Harbour made a backdrop against which different images illustrative of the dances were projected, with the ramp and courtyard of the structure serving as a stage for the dancers. Purpose-made for the occasion, the show provided a richly allusive, loosely chronological pageant of Alexandria's history -- beginning with a mermaid (one thinks of Proteus' daughter in classical accounts of Helen and Menelaus stranded on this shore before the founding of the city), passing through Alexander, Antony and Cleopatra in a boat born aloft by the dancers ("The barge she sat in, like a burnish'd throne..."), the Christian and Islamic periods, via children dancing to the tunes of "We are the world..." against projected images of doves and Mrs Mubarak's face, all the way to the founding of the new Bibliotheca with wild fireworks. The braiding of cultures, at times recherché, as in the African dancers in the Antony and Cleopatra sketch and in the dervishes whirling to the sound of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, was nevertheless carried off with confidence. On the morning of the second day of the festivities, Mrs Mubarak and a number of international guests inaugurated the Bibliotheca Alexandrina's museums and permanent exhibitions, including the Antiquities Museum and the Science Museum. Among Mrs Mubarak's activities during the three-day event was a programme commemorating the centenary of the Nobel Peace Prize . On the evening of the second day, security held up for over an hour the two concerts scheduled -- one by the London Chamber Players in conjunction with the Bibliotheca Alexandrina Chamber Orchestra and another, entitled "Alexandria-Athens: Two Cities Behind the Mediterranean Sea", which comprised readings from and musical renditions of 13 poems by Constantine P Cavafy -- as well as the distribution of the programme. But then the guests waiting outside in the plaza of the Bibliotheca were entertained by an impromptu dance by a Macedonian troupe in Alexandria as part of a likewise revivalist Greek-Egyptian event, taking place on the fringe of the library opening --- namely the unveiling of the statue of Alexander the Great.
