Alexandria's library (Photo: Ahram)
Alexandria's library has been selected as one of the 20 best in the world by the leading travel guide Fodor's.
Fodor's list of the World's 20 Most Stunning Libraries places the Bibliotheca Alexandrina on par with others such as the Biblioteca Angelica in Rome, one of the first public libraries in Europe, and the Radcliffe Camera in Oxford, England.
The Fodor's website says that the new Alexandria library "certainly evokes the glory" of the original, which was a major centre of learning from the third century BC until the Roman conquest of Egypt in 30 BC, after which it was destroyed in what historians say could have been a fire or a series of attacks, possibly by Julius Caesar.
The modern library, opened in 2002, is praised for its reading room, "tilted toward the sea like a sundial," and the glass roof that "allows plenty of light," as well as its extensive collection.
See photos of the other libraries on the Fodor's website here.
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