Bibliotheca Alexandrina in Egypt:Behold see the largest library in the world

The Bibliotheca Alexandrina is the largest library in the world. It is located along the coasts of the Mediterranean sea in Alexandria, Egypt. This magnificent architectural edifice looks like a wedge-like disc, with eleven cascading levels. In addition to the library facilities, the library also contains other cultural and educational functions including a planetarium, several museums, a school for information science, and conservation facilities. The building spans 160 meters in diameter and reaches up to 32 meters in height, while also diving some 12 meters into the ground. The library contain shelves designed to accommodate about 8 million books, with the main reading room covering 70,000 m². Bibliotheca Alexandria is currently recorded as the most expensive building in Africa. Its really a sight to behold, millions of dollars speaking!

The new Library of Alexandria, the new Bibliotheca Alexandrina (BA), is dedicated to recapturing the spirit of openness and scholarship of the original Bibliotheca Alexandrina. It is much more than a library. It comprises the following:

• The Main Library (which can hold up to millions of books) and its affiliated libraries: the Francophone Library, the Depository Library, and the Maps Library
• Six specialized libraries:

1. The Arts and Multimedia Library
2. The Taha Hussein Library for the visually-impaired
3. The Children’s Library
4. The Young People’s Library
5. The Microforms Library
6. The Rare Books and Special Collections Library
• A copy of the Internet Archive
• Four museums:
1. The Antiquities Museum
2. The Manuscripts Museum
3. The Sadat Museum
4. The History of Science Museum
5. The Planetarium Science Center (PSC)
6. The ALEXploratorium: an exploratorium for introducing children to science
7. The Culturama: a cultural panorama projected over nine screens. It is the first ever patented nine-projector interactive system. It has won many awards. The Culturama, developed by CULTNAT, allows the presentation of a wealth of data layers; presenters can click on an item and go to a whole new level of detail. It is a remarkably informative and attractive multimedia presentation of Egypt’s heritage spanning over 5,000 years of history with highlights and examples of Ancient Egyptian and Coptic/Muslim heritage.
8. VISTA (The Virtual Immersive Science and Technology Applications system): an interactive virtual reality environment that allows researchers to transform two-
9. dimensional data sets into 3D simulations and step inside them. A practical tool of visualization during research, VISTA helps researchers to simulate the behavior of natural or human-engineered systems instead of merely observing a system or building a physical model.
10. Thirteen academic research centers:
1. Alexandria and Mediterranean Research Center (Alex Med)
2. Center for Writings and Scripts Studies
3. Center for Special Studies and Programs (CSSP)
4. International School of Information Science (ISIS)
5. Manuscripts Center
6. Center for the Documentation of Cultural and Natural Heritage (CULTNAT) – Cairo
7. Alexandria Center for Hellenistic Studies
8. Center for Democracy and Social Peace Studies (CDSPS)
9. Center for Development Studies (CDS)
10. Center for Environmental Studies
11. Arabic Computational Linguistics Center
12. Center for Islamic Civilization Studies
13. Center for Coptic Studies
• Fifteen permanent exhibitions:
• Impressions of Alexandria: The Awad Collection
• The World of Shadi Abdel Salam
• Arabic Calligraphy
• The History of Printing
• Arab-Muslim Medieval Instruments of Astronomy and Science (Star Riders)
Permanent contemporary Egyptian art exhibitions:
6. The Artist’s Book
7. Mohie El Din Hussein: A Creative Journey
8. The Raaya El-Nimr and Abdel-Ghani Abou El-Enein Collection of Arab Folk Art

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