A very bookish phoenix

By Rehab Saad
By June next year the fabled great library of Alexandria will return to life on almost the same site as the ancient Bibliotheca Alexandrina, destroyed by fire more than 2,000 years ago. President Hosni Mubarak will host a string of international celebrities, VIPs and dignitaries when he opens the $200 million library.
In January, as Higher Education Minister Mufid Shehab explained, there will be an "experimental" opening in which the library's systems and equipment will be put to the test.
According to Alaa El-Qott, an on-site engineer, final touches have already been added to about 95 per cent of the landscape. Areas of the library's floors and roof, as well as the immediate land surrounding the building, have been planted. The boundary of the library grounds is marked by a pool that almost surrounds the building.
The idea of the new library, the brainchild of Alexandria University professors, was first conceived in the 1970s, though in a less grandiose form than has eventually emerged. They simply wanted a library for their university that would meet international standards.
The idea later assumed an international dimension when in 1988 UNESCO issued an international appeal to governments, organisations and individuals to support the project. In the same year President Mubarak laid down the foundation stone.
This was followed by a meeting in Aswan on 12 February 1990 in which members of an International Honorary Commission signed the Aswan Declaration for the revival of the ancient library.
The new library occupies a 40,000 square metre site alongside the University of Alexandria's Faculty of Arts in Shatbi, overlooking the Mediterranean, not far from the site of the ancient library-museum complex within the Royal Quarter, in the district then known as the Brocheum.
Built in the 4th century BC by Ptolemy Soter, the original library provided a home for scholars drawn from across the ancient world, including Euclid, Erastosthenes, Heron and Archimedes.
SHELVING THE PAST: The new Alexandria Library is nearing completion and its innovative design will, it is hoped, prove a major attraction, not just to scholars, but to all the city's visitors.
Scheduled to be officially opened in June next year, the library will undergo an experimental opening next month to test that the systems and procedures already in place can cope with the expected demand
photo: Antoune Albert
The ancient library possessed about 700,000 volumes. Its modern descendant will begin life with 500,000 volumes, though within five years of its opening it is expected to house more than eight million. Moreover, there will be 50,000 maps, 100,000 manuscripts, 30 data bases, 10,000 rare books, 100 CD ROM titles, 200,000 musical tapes and 50,000 video tapes.
The Bibliotheca Alexandrina is intended not simply as a repository of books but as a centre of enlightenment. It includes three main buildings, the library itself, together with a conference centre, operational since 1992, and a spherical planetarium built of steel, concrete and fibreglass. A museum devoted to the history of science and the underwater monuments discovered in the eastern harbour lies beneath the planetarium.
The library design comprises a simple circle inclined towards the sea and partly submerged in a pool of water. The inclined roof lets in daylight indirectly and allows for an uninterrupted view of the Mediterranean. The building is surrounded by a wall clad with Aswan granite engraved with calligraphy and inscriptions representative of the world's civilisations.
The design of the reading space inside the library consists of seven interconnected levels. Each level is devoted to a different subject, starting from religion and ending with high technology.
The entrance hall, which Library officials call the grand space, affords an open view of all the levels. "It will be something like an open buffet of knowledge where you can pick up any topic you like, whether history, geography, science, all in one place," El-Qott said.
"A special fire and security system has been installed. In the case of fire, a certain type of gas will be released to prevent the books from igniting. Smoke curtains will also isolate the location of the fire," El-Qott added, while entries and exits are to be monitored by 100 video cameras.
Mohsen Zahran, the project manager, praised the level of support the project has received from many countries. "For example, Spain donated copies of the works of the great Andalusian scholars from the archives in the Escorial and Cordoba, while Turkey donated some 10,000 volumes and archives on Turkish and Ottoman history. There were also donations from the Vatican and Italy," he added. "And Italy, through UNESCO, has established a special lab for the restoration of books and manuscripts."
Zahran believes that the Bibliotheca Alexandrina will be able to compete with other famous libraries. "It is the content that differentiates us from the others. It is true that the Library of Congress has millions of books and we only have 500,000, but where else can you find the facilities that we are providing? Where else can you find a place where researchers can lock themselves up in special cells and do their research? Where else can you find the technology that we have?" he asked.
"I believe that this library is not for everyone. There are certain places that can be open to the public, whereas other places should be kept for specialised people. The library is not for those who want to read a newspaper or a novel," he said.
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