The Bibliotheca Alexandrina Planetarium couldn't come with a better pedigree. Jenny Jobbins set out to do some stargazing, but found the only stars were the ancient scientists themselves The Planetarium at the Bibliotheca Alexandrina, gateway to an exciting trip through the universe photo: Sally Hampson The new Alexandria Library might eventually turn out to be enough of an attraction to bring tourists to the city -- I say might because the current focus is working the other way round. Most of the scholars and delegates attending the library's much-heralded conventions and events appear to have little spare time of their hands to enjoy the city's other attractions. Meanwhile tourists heading for the beaches or the Graeco-Roman Museum are given no information about the library unless they ask for it, and even then that information is sketchy. The current pre-official opening art exhibition (on until 5 October) has attracted the work of 120 artists from around the globe presenting their ideas of Imagining the Book, but there are no posters to advertise it in town or even in the library itself. When I asked at the Tourist Information Bureau if there were currently any exhibitions at the library I was told there were not, even though Imagining the Book was opening that very day. Alexandria to the initiated, it must be stressed, is not for one without patience or a good map. Few taxi drivers have learned the English word "library" (one must learn to ask for al- maktaba), and in spite of the city's famous -- and highly commendable -- sprucing up there are still no road signs indicating where one is or pointing to where one wants to go. To negotiate your way around you must quickly learn street names, traffic flows (for taxi-hailing) and a few landmarks. Luckily, the library's round sun disc can't -- and certainly shouldn't -- be missed. When at the beginning of this month I heard the Planetarium had opened I wanted to learn how much Alexandria's famous school of astronomy had developed in the last 2,000 years. I felt the scholarly, literary and artistic delegates -- as well as the tourists -- might also want something to do other than admiring (with eyes shaded) the glowing image of the gleaming white sun disc reflecting the Mediterranean sky. I expressed my own desire to visit the Planetarium to a member of the Alexandria governorate office who happened to be at the Mediterranean Travel Fair (MTF) in Cairo. She told me it had opened but closed again for technical reasons, but would reopen at the library's official opening in October. I was going to Alexandria straight after the MTF, and was sorry I would not see the Planetarium on this visit. When I arrived in Alex, however, the attendant at the Tourist Information Bureau told me the Planetarium was open, and the kind man at the Bibliotheca reception desk even gave me a copy of the programme. But all my informants might have thought they were right, in a way. Open it was, but until next month's opening the shows were only in Arabic. Even though the Planetarium was open and visitors have a way of wiling away a spare hour or two, none of the artists I spoke to at the exhibition were aware of it. The Planetarium, dwarfed by the library building on one side and the conference centre on the other, is a grey, planet-shaped building with the silver eastern harbour as a backdrop by day and the dramatic sky by night -- when the shape of the sphere is enhanced by circles of deep fluorescent blue light. The entrance, unmarked in the Alexandrian style, is down a flight of steps in the foreground. I'm not sure what I expected at the Planetarium -- to see charts of exactly what the early astronomers had discovered and mapped, to learn something more about the stars myself, and perhaps even to find out whether there was something about the sky over this part of the globe that led to its beaming a magical ray of knowledge. Not, I hasten to add, that I know any more about astronomy than an ability to find my way through the daily horoscope. Where the stars and constellations of the zodiac are I have no idea. As far as I remember I have never handled a telescope, and although I admire the stars for their decorative quality the only constellations I can pick out are the Great and Little Bears and Orion -- though where to look for them at any particular time of year I wouldn't know. Be that as it may, I did grow up supposing that the earth is not flat and that it and the other planets orbit the sun -- the first idea figured out by the pre-Alexandrian Aristotle (tutor to Alexander the Great) and the second proposed in the third century BC by the Alexandrian astronomer Aristarchus. It was in Alexandria in the second century BC that the astronomer Hipparchus discovered the precession of the equinoxes, accurately measured the distance to the moon, and mapped the position of 1,000 stars. So I was slightly bemused to find the Planetarium was not a sky dome but an Imax screen; still with no idea of what to expect, I hoped I would be instructed on screen. The entrance ticket for the Imax show includes admission to a small but perfectly-formed science museum on the lower floor containing not science, strictly speaking, but a history of science as seen from Egypt, and more particularly Alexandria. The crystal clear display takes the visitor through the role this city has played in the history of science, pointing out that the Greeks benefited hugely from the innovations and knowledge of the ancient Egyptians while adding the virtues of reflection to Pharaonic observations and introducing the concepts of demonstration and mathematical medicine, the fundamentals of modern science. The visitor is shown diagrams of innovative Pharaonic inventions such as the shaduuf, a lifting device still in use, and the Archimedes screw, through building techniques and measurements and mathematical papyri, including the Rhind and Moscow Papyri which are collections of exercises designed to provide basic training in the rules of calculation. Moving on, the major Graeco-Roman scientists of Alexandria each has his own niche with notes on his achievements and discoveries. I had expected to see details of the work of the astronomers Aristarchus, Hipparchus and Ptolemy, but there was only a brief outline of their achievements. The third section deals with those who came later -- the great scholars of the Coptic and Islamic periods. Round the centre of the hall, all beautifully presented, are the biographies and discoveries of the major pioneers of medical science from Herophilus, who was allowed in the relaxed climate of his day to practise human dissection -- forbidden to his predecessors and also to his great successor Galen in the second century AD -- to Paul of Aegina, who was practising medicine in Alexandria when the Arabs marched in in 640 AD. It was Paul who compiled the Seven Books of Medicine, a compilation of the works of Galen in seven volumes and the last such work written in Greek in Alexandria. "I undertook this summary compiled from the writings of the ancients, and introduced little of my own, save one or two minor items which I deemed worthy of mention which include many gems of information," Paul wrote. The museum might be a tad disappointing to children but they will love the Imax shows, though none of the exhibition is suitable for very young children. The projection begins with New Age music and a slowly darkening screen followed by the absorbing technical wizardry of the Imax. Sadly my time in Alex was too short to see all the shows but I did see the longest, the Smithsonian Institute's Cosmic Voyage, which transports one from the DNA chain belonging to the teeniest blob of pond life to the furthest corner of the universe before dropping one unceremoniously back in one's padded chair under a white dome. Next door to the ticket office, and still in the Planetarium complex (I give this information because, unsurprisingly, there are no posters anywhere to announce it) is a temporary geological exhibition one may enter free of charge. Mounted by L'Association Française des Amis de la Bibliotheca Alexandrina, the Greek Association of Mineral and Fossil Collectors and L'Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Mines de Paris, with the support of Greek Ministry of Culture and the French committee of UNESCO, the exhibition, Tresors de la terre au pays des Pharaons, will be on view until 1 November. This is actually a global collection, as the exhibits are certainly not limited to Egyptian specimens. Some of the pieces are electrifyingly beautiful, but the display could be spoiled for some visitors as the posters are in only French or Greek, although Arabic translations have been added to the specimen descriptions. Did I learn more about the planets and stars, or about exactly why the ancient astronomers reached the conclusions they did? Sadly I came away with none of this, but to be fair the show I saw had little to do with stars and perhaps viewing all three shows might present a more complete picture. What I did leave with, though, was a sense of wonder and satisfaction that the Bibliotheca Alexandrina could offer some compensation for living in a developing country (a far cry from ancient Alexandria, hub of the then-developing world) by transporting me to a new age of Imax and educational resources of the highest international standard. Practical information One of three shows -- Cosmic Voyage, Oasis in Space or Return of the Red Planet -- are shown at 9.30am, 11.30am, 1pm, 5.30pm and 7.30pm on Saturday, Sunday, Wednesday and Thursday; 9.30am, 11.30am and 1pm on Monday and Tuesday and 5.30pm and 7.30pm on Friday. Tickets for the three different shows (including entrance to the Science Museum) are LE15, LE10 or LE5 for Egyptians and foreign residents and $5 or LE25 for tourists. Late arrivals are refused admission. The 9.30am show may be limited to schoolchildren. Children under six are not admitted. The ticket office is open from 8.30am to 7.30pm and 4pm to 7.30pm on Fridays. Until mid-October the films are being shown only in Arabic, but after the library's official opening headphones with Arabic or English narration will be used. Tresors de la terre au pays des Pharaons, until 1 November. Open 10am to 7pm on Saturday to Thursday and 3pm to 7pm on Fridays. Children under 10 are not allowed. Admission free. Imagining the Book, Bibliotheca Alexandrina Conference Centre, until 5 October. Admission free.
