I nspired by the Great Library, founded in the early 3rd century BC, and acclaimed as the greatest of all classical institutions of the ancient world, the new Library of Alexandria "Bibliotheca Alexandrina" is a magnificent piece of 21st-century architecture intended to hold eight million books. The Library complex includes the Main Library, Young people's Library, Library for the Blind, Planetarium, Science Museum, Calligraphy Museum, Alexandrina Archeological Museum, International School of Information Studies (ISIS), Conservation and Reformation Laboratory, Conference Centre of Alexandria, multi-purpose study rooms and exhibition areas.

"On this very spot
... all the knowledge of the world was gathered in over 700,000 scrolls
... was the destination for all the scholars of the ancient world
... the basis of engineering, astronomy, mathermatics, geography, and library science were developed
... the Old Testament was tranlated for the first time from Hebrew to Greek
... was the meeting place for civilisations, cultures, and sciences

The new Bibliotheca Alexandrina, like its ancient model, will be more than just a traditional library ... first of all, we want the Library to be Egypt's window on the world. It should open to the Egyptians, the scientific, literary and artistic marvels of the Mediterannean cultures, as well as those of the rest of the world. We also want it to be the window of the world onto our own Egyptian culture and civilization --- the longest continuous civilization on earth - with its Pharaonic, Graeco-Roman, Judeao-Christian, Coptic and Arab-Islamic heritage, and its present day realities ....
One of our principal goals is to make the Bibliotheca Alexandrina a centre of intellectual ferment -- as much a place for discussion and lively debate over original and imaginative ideas, as for careful scholarship and scientific analyses. We shall also strive to make it a meeting place for cultures and a forum for enlightened dialogue between civilizations, in order to help promote peace, tolerance, respect for differences, and appreciation and protection of cultural diversity within our globalizing world."
                        H.E. Mrs. Suzanne Mubarak (Sponsor and Chair of the Board of Trustees)