Alexandria was Egypt's capital for centuries, boasting the legendary Library of Alexandria. It was once the epicentre of knowledge in the ancient world, rivalling even Athens, Greece.
Situated in the royal quarter, this remarkable library housed approximately 700,000 scrolls. In their quest for knowledge, the Ptolemies acquired and sometimes pilfered scrolls from visiting ships, envisioning the library as a beacon of enlightenment.
Numerous scholars toiled within the library's walls, contributing to many fields. Eratosthenes calculated the earth's circumference, Euclid formulated geometry, and Archimedes conceptualized mechanical devices. The precise number of books within the Library of Alexandria remains a mystery, with estimates ranging from 500,000 (modern scholars deem an exaggeration) to the contested claim that Mark Antony gifted Cleopatra 200,000 books.
Tragically, the library succumbed to an unknown fate. Historical consensus points to a catastrophic fire during Julius Caesar's landing on the Mediterranean Sea, which caused irreparable damage to the structure and its invaluable contents.
Today, a modern marvel, the Bibliotheca Alexandrina (Latin for “Library of Alexandria”), graces the city. Unveiled in 2002, it pays homage to its ancient predecessor with a facade crafted from nearly 6,000 square meters of hand-carved stone. Featuring two walls—one above and one below ground—constructed from Egyptian granite monoliths. The wall carvings display most of the world's known writing systems, including around 4,000 unique characters from various alphabets, symbols, musical and mathematical notation, Braille, and barcodes mixed with familiar inscriptions covering some 10,000 years of history.
The library is 11 stories with over 80,000 square meters of space, has enough shelves to hold up to 4 million volumes of books, and can be expanded to house up to 8 million. With a main reading room for 2,000 readers, a rare books section, art galleries, a conference center, a planetarium, and various research centers.
Not built during Karl's visit, I visited this library to explore its design and link to the original Ancient Library. Also, I wanted to explore the potential presence of references to a Nova Scotian on a bicycle in the Arabic-language newspapers, scheduling time with the library staff to delve into the historical archives. Sadly, there was no reference in the local newspapers of Karl's time in Egypt in 1901, but the effort to inquire about the library was well worth it.
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