Royalty and politicians from around the globe came together in Egypt this week for the formal inauguration of Alexandria's new library, built on the site of the famous original which was destroyed in the fourth century.
Among the 3,000 guests present for the historical opening were the queens of Spain and Jordan, as well as Egypt’s President Hosni Mubarak, President Jacques Chirac of France, Italy’s Carlo Ciampi and President Costas Stefanopoulos of Greece.
At the opening ceremony itself Irish singer Sinead O’Connor performed in front of the assembled dignitaries, who were later treated to a spectacular firework display as the city’s inhabitants danced in the streets outside the library.
The original library, which boasted Archimedes and Euclid among its users, was destroyed by fire two and a half millennia ago. Its stunning replacement took 12 years to build at a cost of $120 million.
Although a number of books have been banned by religious authorities in Egypt, including that of Egyptian Nobel prize for literature winner Naguib Mahfouz, the library’s director defined a different set of parameters for his new responsiblity. “The mission of this institution is really to be a place of dialogue and tolerance and understanding and rationality – a space of freedom for all the cultures of the world,” said Dr Ismail Serageddin.
Photo: © Alphapress.com
Photo: © Alphapress.com
