The
Bibliotheca Alexandrina is a major library
and cultural center located on the shore
of the Mediterranean Sea in the Egyptian
city of Alexandria. It is both a commemoration
of the Library of Alexandria that was
lost in antiquity and an attempt to rekindle
something of the brilliance that this
earlier center of study and erudition
represented. The idea of reviving the
old library dates back to 1974, when a
committee set up by the University of
Alexandria selected a plot of land for
its new library, between the campus and
the seafront, close to where the ancient
library once stood. The notion of recreating
the ancient library was soon enthusiastically
adopted by other individuals and agencies.
One leading supporter of the project was
current Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak;
UNESCO was also quick to embrace the idea
of endowing the Mediterranean region with
a center of cultural and scientific excellence.
An architectural competition, organized
by UNESCO in 1988 to choose a design worthy
of the site and its heritage, was won
by the Norwegian company Snøhetta
from among more than 1,400 entries.
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