Bibliotheca Alexandrina

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Library of Alexandria
مكتبة الإسكندرية Bibliotheca Alexandrina
31°12′32″N 29°54′33″E / 31.20889°N 29.90917°E / 31.20889; 29.90917
Location	Alexandria, Egypt
Type	National library
Established	16 October 2002; 21 years ago (2002-10-16)
Access and use
Members	16,322 (2012)
Other information
Director	Ahmed Abdullah Zayed
Website	www.bibalex.org/en/default

The Bibliotheca Alexandrina (Latin, 'Library of Alexandria';^[1] Arabic: مكتبة الإسكندرية, romanized: Maktabat al-’Iskandariyya, Egyptian Arabic pronunciation: [mækˈtæb(e)t eskendeˈɾejjæ]) (BA) is a major library and cultural center on the shore of the Mediterranean Sea in Alexandria, Egypt. It is a commemoration of the Library of Alexandria, once one of the largest libraries worldwide, which was lost in antiquity. The Bibliotheca Alexandrina contains books in classical Arabic, English, and French languages.

The idea of reviving the old library dates back to 1974 when a committee set up by Alexandria University selected a plot of land for its new library. Construction work began in 1995, and after some US$220 million had been spent, the complex was officially inaugurated on 16 October 2002. In 2009, the library received a donation of 500,000 books from the Bibliothèque nationale de France (BnF). The gift makes the Bibliotheca Alexandrina the sixth-largest Francophone library in the world.^[2]

The library offers shelf space for eight million books, and its main reading room spans 20,000 square meters (220,000 sq ft). The complex also houses a conference center; specialized libraries for maps, multimedia, the blind and visually impaired, and for children; four museums; four art galleries four temporary exhibitions; 15 permanent exhibitions; a planetarium; and a manuscript restoration laboratory.