Bibliotheca Alexandrina Memory of Humanity

Amidst the effectuations of a cultural and civilizational international celebration, Mrs. Suzanne Mubarak, chair of the Board of Trustees, witnessed the ceremony of the first anniversary of Bibliotheca Alexandrina and the remarkable achievements that have been made along the past year.

The celebration was attended by about 1200 prominent Egyptian, Arab and international figures, the Library board of trustees and the representatives of 35 societies who all rushed from all over the world to participate. They came to offer help and donations to the beacon of culture and civilization from which the earliest rays of cultural radiation were sent.

In her speech in the opening session of the celebration, Mrs. Suzanne Mubarak asserted that although only one year has passed since the inauguration of the Library, several remarkable events have taken place. Many museums were set up under the umbrella of the Library which we perceived in 1990 as a colourful dream that eventually came true. Our celebration comes as a true acknowledgement and deep appreciation of the outstanding efforts exerted by the governorate of Alexandria to render this historical event a worldwide success.

In so doing, Alexandria stands as a true embodiment of the piercing vision of Alexander the Great in establishing a city where all cultures and civilizations are interlaced together. Bibliotheca Alexandrina is established at the same site where the old library was built; an action that represents a revival of human heritage and a turning point in the history of peoples cultures.

On this memorable day, every Egyptian feels proud of his time-honoured civilization, everlasting culture and internationally recognized library. The revival of Bibliotheca Alexandrina comes to highlight a group of principles that stand in the face of oppression, ignorance and random thinking and raises the banner of peace, culture and tolerance.

Moreover, being a center of cultural radiation, the revival of the Library comes to entrench the values of science and knowledge as the only way towards achieving progress and scientific awakening and extending bridges of communication among peoples and civilizations. Bibliotheca Alexandrina is not only a library that encompasses sets of books and manuscripts and houses a number of museums , but a beacon of art, literature and knowledge from which rays of cultural radiation are sent to the world through a number of scientific symposiums,  conferences and cultural activities that take place within the Library.

On the other hand, it is worth mentioning that the ancient Bibliotheca Alexandrina was the first academy where scientists and scholars from all over the world gathered in search for knowledge and culture. Henceforth, the ancient library is back to life in the 21st century to pursue, in a totally modern form and content, its role in extending bridges of communication and integration among peoples and civilizations.

The 1st anniversary of Bibliotheca Alexandrina since the revival of the Library of Alexandria, a lot of cultural achievements have been witnessed including: the inauguration of new technological projects, in all languages, for the service of children and scholars and the child library was inaugurated as the nucleus of a mega national project that aims at widening children's intelectual scope and attracting them towards the printed electronic book.

However, there is the project of the "mobile book"; a movable library where the child can easily select the books he wants to read, and then he operates the computer inside the movable library so as to electronically read the book through the computer and gives an order for printing the book which is at once printed, covered and handed to the child for free.

The inauguration of the scientific discovery hall comes to assert once anew one of the main objectives of reviving the library i.e. to pursue the role of the ancient library in spreading science and culture, introducing new fields for scientific application and making optimal use of science for the service of the environment and the society.

One of the main objectives of the Discovery Hall is to pay more attention to promoting culture, nurturing the seeds of creativity and innovation in the fields of science and modern technologies and preparing a new promising generation of intellects and innovators capable of making optimal use of the state-of-the-art technologies so as to overcome hurdles and head for the future. Furthermore, the Hall helps develop human potentialities by allowing specialists to conduct scientific experiments.

Up to the present time 12 experiments have been carried out through the application of the rules of physics and astronomy, mainly the experiments of light refraction through optical fibers and the conversion of kinetic energy to electric energy, using the dynamo. In addition, the Hall visitors have the opportunity of conducting the experiment of the solar car as an application of making use of light energy as an alternative renewable source of energy to be converted to electric energy.

Moreover, the Hall visitors can carry out experiments so as to prove the gravity phenomenon and its effect on substances, besides experiments that manifest the eclipse phenomenon and the relation between stars and planets. There is also a show of the reflection of star groupings on earth. In addition, the Hall houses an apparatus that presents a show of star groupings at the northern hemisphere of the globe, and another apparatus that depicts the moon robot while walking on the surface of the moon using sound and light.

On the other hand, the Hall combines a lot of exhibits in addition to a number of cultural activities that take place within the Hall, such as lectures, scientific documentaries, workshops for students and other programs for kids and spectators. Furthermore, about 30 new scientific documentaries on astronomy and the celestial sphere are shown, as one of the activities that occur within the Hall ."Reading-for-All Program" Being one of the mainstays of entrenching culture and spreading knowledge, a number of top intellects and cultured figures shoulder the responsibility of reading for children so as to foster their sense of reading .

In addition, a new service for blind children was initiated in the Children Library, by providing suitable computer sets, so as to be able to increase their knowledge, on equal footing with normal children. Furthermore, the library of the blind children was equipped with an electronic archive that allows a blind child to make full use of all data, including references and manuscripts, provided on the computer.

Besides audio and printed books, children have acess to the Library's Online Public Catalogue (OPAC), using Braille and sound software. On the top of the major achievements accomplished in Bibliotheca Alexandrina comes the significant one-million-book project. It is a joint project between Bibliotheca Alexandrina, Carnegie Mellon University in the USA, Internet Archive Institution and the Indian and Chinese governments.

This project aims at numbering one million books and publishing them on the internet until the year 2005, so as to make them available and readable via the internet. Egypt will contribute a collection of Arabic books. In this respect, the library has received, as a gift, five computer sets to be used in the project .

Library Components The Library encompasses three museums and seven research centers, namely Monuments, Manuscripts Museum, Science Museum, Arts Center, Informatic Studies Institute, Center of Documentation of Natural and Civilizational Heritage, Manuscript Center, Calligraphy Studies Center, Special Studies and Program Center and Alexandria and Mediterranean Studies Center. All these research centers help convey the same sublime message of the Library in spreading culture and knowledge, being a unique center of cultural radiation worldwide. Furthermore, these centers help entrench the vision of President Mubarak when he promised the world that the new library will conjoin cultures, foster science and spread knowledge.

During the coming period, the Library will witness a remarkable leap by establishing new academic centers that provide services in the fields of specialized sciences, civilization and culture in Egypt and all over the world. Furthermore, these centers will be equipped with the state-of-the-art technologies so as to expand culture and widen the space of human knowledge.

Development of Manuscripts Museum
Being one of its most significant museums, the most up-to-date scientific theories concerning museum exhibition have been applied so as to develop and modernize the Manuscript Museum in Bibliotheca Alexandrina. In this respect, authentic copies of rare manuscripts, that were on display last year, were prepared and loaded on CDs. Among books of value, first placed in the museum is the manuscript of volume 13 of Sahih Muslim, compiled by Imam Muslim and written by Khalaf Ibn Hakim in Safar, 368 AH.

This rare document is one of the most valuable manuscripts as it presents a survey of the development of Arabic writings in the 4th century AH i.e. the 10th century. Furthermore, the museum contains the most ancient book published in Germany in 1536 in addition to other manuscripts, handwritten by their authors. The Holy Quran was the first book to be placed in the museum with several copies of different sizes in addition to manuscripts of Quran exegesis including interpretation and commentary. Thus, the number of rare manuscripts, displayed for the first time in the museum hit 100.

On the other hand, manuscripts of (Escorial) donated by Queen Sophie, Queen of Spain , were indexed and collected in a database. In addition, the Manuscript Center produced a CD that combines all the data as regards the Greek civilization, besides a comprehensive definition of masterpieces displayed in the museum.

Bibliotheca Alexandrina in the World's Eyes The library pays due attention to the civilizational and cultural dimensions of nations. It helps to bridge the gaps and distances between nations and their different civilizational and cultural heritages and save ancient civilizations from sinking into oblivion. In so doing, the Library gains international importance and stands as a symbol of peace and an embodiment of inter-cultural dialogue, tolerance and wisdom.

In addition, the Library enjoys a prestigious status and a remarkable presence in world forum and among international academies and scientific and cultural communities.

The library has participated in a number of cultural and scientific conferences and more than 40 agreements have been concluded for cooperation among BA and major Libraries all over the world on the one hand and specialized institutions on the other. Furthermore, the Library selected a number of major topics for discussion such as water problem, poverty, unemployment, education, scientific research, inter-civilization dialogue, globalization, economy, trade.. etc.