The Bibliotheca Alexandrina is the place to go if you want to see the ancient library. It is preserved at the Alexandria Museum Institute in Alexandria, Egypt. It is said that the idea of ​​creation came from Demetrius of Elfaler. So Ptolemy I Soter drew up the plans for this massive project. Caesar’s son, Ptolemy II, was responsible for the final stages of the project.

The collection of papyrus scrolls in the library has grown to a size never seen before. It happened faster because the Ptolemaic rulers gave them a lot of money. It isn’t easy to guess how many scrolls are stored here. In any case, we can assume that there were between 40,000 and 400,000 manuscripts when they were most common.

 

Critical of The Library of Alexandria:

Even after the Romans took over Egypt, the library was still an essential part of Egyptian culture. Until the third century, new rulers helped in its growth. In the Ptolemaic period, librarians had several advantages. In Greater Alexandria, the level of education and intelligence was very high. In this library, many famous and respected scholars conducted their essential research.

Herodotus of Ephesus was one of those who helped correct Homeric poetry. Pinakes said Callimachus was the one who compiled the first catalog of the library. Eratosthenes of Cyrene came close to knowing the exact size of the Earth’s edge. Greek diacritics, established by Aristophanes of the Byzantine Empire, were the first punctuation marks used to indicate the beginning and end of lines.

 

There were two events in the library:

Most of the collections are kept in the Brehon region. The royal family lived here (almost did not suffer during the Julius Caesar war). Support is located in the temple of Serapis (where educational literature is stored).
There was a sense of learning in the library. Many explorers settled in the area. These scholars engaged in research and teaching that broke new ground.

The library had employees who copied books. The fact that they got the money right away was a big plus. This was mainly due to how important Alexandria was as a place to manufacture papyrus, which was good for the economy. As expected, the Ptolemies worked hard to train grammarians and scribes who could do their jobs well.

 

dismantling libraries

One common idea is that the library disappeared after certain events occurred. Not at all, and it has simply become obsolete over a long period. Around 145 BC, the library began to collapse when Ptolemy VIII ruled. The Library of Alexandria fell into disrepair after the retirement of the chief librarian.

Most of them burned down during the Civil War. We have no way of knowing the extent of the damage. After the end of the war, the Ptolemies reassembled the library. Over time, the Romans had less money and stopped investing in the library. In addition, all 260 workers left. In 273, one library was finally demolished.

 

The restored Library of Alexandria returns to its glory

In 1974, Lotfi Dovidar, President of Alexandria University, put forward the idea of ​​restoring the Library of Alexandria. In May 1986, Egypt formally applied to UNESCO for permission to revive the project. Since 1988, the Bibliotheca Alexandrina International Architecture Competition has enjoyed unwavering support.

This assistance was provided by the United Nations Development Program and the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization. The Egyptian government has allocated four acres for the restoration of the library, and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak also participated in the show in his spare time. Unsurprisingly, these efforts made it easy to pay for repairs, which was no surprise.

In 2002, the Egyptian government finally finished renovating the library. In honor of the first Library of Alexandria, this library is now called the “Bibliotheca Alexandrina.” This makes it completely ready to do its job. The Bibliotheca Alexandrina has been renovated and is now the International School of Information Sciences campus. A college or university that teaches subjects not taught in other schools.

The new library’s purpose is to make it easier for everyone to learn new things and broaden their horizons. The modern educational system in Egypt succeeded while building the library, which means that the government is no longer the only one who can provide public education. During the 2011 Egyptian revolution, a vast human chain was hung around the library to prevent it from being stolen.

 

Books in the library now

The new Bibliotheca Alexandrina is the cultural center of the modern world. It is located on the Mediterranean coast. Granite, glass, and aluminum are used to create a monumental building, and it Is similar to no signs of its ancient past. It’s hard to believe that a modern library could have many books.

There are some unique things in this collection of half a million books. Arabic manuscripts from the seventh and eighth centuries that are rare and worth a lot are kept here. He also gets a copy of Claudius Ptolemy’s map of the world. Of course, it will take a lot longer (about 20 years) to build a library with 4–8 million books. The government gave many books to the book fund for the library system.

The library is entire because people and the community give things to it. No matter how different the current collection is! It’s not possible to make everything like it was 2000 years ago. Filling the Library of Alexandria with all the knowledge in the world is still a difficult task.