Culture

Libraries

The Bibliotheca Alexandrina

The Royal Library of Alexandria, in Alexandria, Egypt, was once the largest library
in the world. It is generally thought to have been founded at the beginning of the
3rd century BC, during the reign of Ptolemy II of Egypt. It was likely created
after his father had built what would become the first part of the library complex,
the temple of the Muses—the Museion, Greek Μουσείον (from which the Modern English
word museum is derived).

It has been reasonably established that the library, or parts of the collection,
were destroyed by fire on a number of occasions (library fires were common and
replacement of handwritten manuscripts was very difficult, expensive, and time-
consuming). To this day the details of the destruction (or destructions) remain a
lively source of controversy.[52]

The Bibliotheca Alexandrina was inaugurated in 2002, near the site of the old
Library.[53]

Museums

The Alexandria National Museum

Graeco-Roman Museum

Royal Jewelry Museum

The Alexandria National Museum was inaugurated 31 December 2003. It is located in a
restored Italian style palace in Tariq El Horreya Street (formerly Rue Fouad), near
the center of the city. It contains about 1,800 artifacts that narrate the story of
Alexandria and Egypt. Most of these pieces came from other Egyptian museums. The
museum is housed in the old Al-Saad Bassili Pasha Palace, who was one of the
wealthiest wood merchants in Alexandria. Construction on the site was first
undertaken in 1926.
Cavafy Museum
The Graeco-Roman Museum
The Museum of Fine Arts
The Royal Jewelry Museum
Theaters
Alexandria Opera House, where classical music, Arabic music, ballet, and opera are
performed and bearm basha theatre in elshatby.
Architecture
Throughout Alexandra, there is art that resembles some of the oldest architectural
styles of the Hellenic city, and its ancient decorations, especially in the
Bibliotheca Alexandrina, is based on reviving the ancient Library of Alexandria.
The Kom el shoqafa Catacombs are considered one of the Seven Wonders of the Middle
Ages and date back to the 2nd century. The remnants of Pompey's Pillar still remain
today. This single pillar represents the elaborate temple which once stood in
Alexandria. It remains at the site of the Serapeum, Alexandria's acropolis. The
Serapeum, which stood for ancient tradition, conflicted with the rise of
Christianity. It is a large tourist destination, today. the Roman Amphitheatre of
Alexandria is another popular destination. Here, there remains a stage with around
seven hundred to eight hundred seats. They also have numerous galleries of statues
and details leftover form this time. Alexandria's tourism office announced plans to
reserve some beaches for tourists in July 2018.[54]

Shalalat Gardens
Montaza Garden

Alexandria Art Center

Alexandria Opera House

Fawzia Fahmy Palace

Alexander the Great's statue

Monument of the Unknown Navy Soldier

Montaza Palace

Sports

Alexandria Stadium
The main sport that interests Alexandrians is football, as is the case in the rest
of Egypt and Africa. Alexandria Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium in Alexandria,
Egypt. It is currently used mostly for football matches, and was used for the 2006
African Cup of Nations. The stadium is the oldest stadium in Egypt, being built in
1929. The stadium holds 20,000 people. Alexandria was one of three cities that
participated in hosting the African Cup of Nations in January 2006, which Egypt
won. Sea sports such as surfing, jet-skiing and water polo are practiced on a lower
scale. The Skateboarding culture in Egypt started in this city. The city is also
home to the Alexandria Sporting Club, which is especially known for its basketball
team, which traditionally provides the country's national team with key players.
The city hosted the AfroBasket, the continent's most prestigious basketball
tournament, on four occasions (1970, 1975, 1983, 2003).

Alexandria has four stadiums:

Alexandria Stadium
Borg El Arab Stadium
El Krom Stadium
Harras El Hodoud Stadium
Other less popular sports like tennis and squash are usually played in private
social and sports clubs, like:

Acacia Country Club

Alexandria Sporting Club – in "Sporting"
Alexandria Country club
Al Ittihad Alexandria Club
Olympic Club
Haras El Hodoud SC Club
Koroum Club
Lagoon Resort Courts
Smouha SC – in "Smouha"
Started in 2011, Cross Egypt Challenge is an international cross-country motorcycle
and scooter rally conducted throughout the most difficult tracks and roads of
Egypt. Alexandria is known as the yearly starting point of Cross Egypt Challenge
and a huge celebration is conducted the night before the rally starts after all the
international participants arrive to the city.

International relations

This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this
article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be
challenged and removed.
Find sources: "Alexandria" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (May 2015)
(Learn how and when to remove this template message)
See also: List of twin towns and sister cities in Egypt

The Italian consulate in Saad Zaghloul Square

Alexandria is twinned with:

Tunisia Tunis, Tunisia

Kazakhstan Almaty, Kazakhstan
Slovakia Bratislava, Slovakia[55]
Morocco Casablanca, Morocco
United States Cleveland, USA[56]
Romania Constanța, Romania
South Africa Durban, South Africa[57]
Turkey İzmir, Turkey
Bulgaria Kazanlak, Bulgaria
France Marseille, France[58]
India Kanpur, India
Azerbaijan Yevlakh, Azerbaijan
Cyprus Limassol, Cyprus[59]
Ukraine Odessa, Ukraine
China Shanghai, China[60]
Russia Saint Petersburg, Russia[61]
Greece Thessaloniki, Greece[62]
Cyprus Paphos, Cyprus (2018)[63]
Italy Catania, Italy (2019)[64]
United States Baltimore, USA
See also
Alexandria Governorate
Baucalis
Cultural tourism in Egypt
Governorates of Egypt
Library of Alexandria
List of cities and towns in Egypt
List of cities founded by Alexander the Great
List of largest monoliths
Of Alexandria
References
"Alexandria Governor – Dr. Abd El Aziz Konsowa". 29 January 2019. Archived from
the original on 12 February 2018. Retrieved 12 February 2018.
"‫"الجهاز المركزي للتعبئة العامة واإلحصاء‬. www.capmas.gov.eg. Archived from the original on 1
October 2018. Retrieved 27 October 2018.
"Alexandria". Collins Dictionary. n.d. Archived from the original on 11 June 2015.
Retrieved 24 September 2014.
Justin Pollard; Howard Reid (30 October 2007). The Rise and Fall of Alexandria:
Birthplace of the Modern World. Viking. p. 2-7. ISBN 978-0-14-311251-8.
"The Lighthouse Dims". Foreign Policy. 23 December 2014. Archived from the
original on 9 March 2017. Retrieved 5 March 2017.
Véron, A.; Goiran, J. P.; Morhange, C.; Marriner, N.; Empereur, J. Y. (2006).
"Pollutant lead reveals the pre-Hellenistic occupation and ancient growth of
Alexandria, Egypt". Geophysical Research Letters. 33 (6). doi:10.1029/2006GL025824.
ISSN 0094-8276.
O'Connor, Lauren (2009) "The Remains of Alexander the Great: The God, The King,
The Symbol," Constructing the Past: Vol. 10: Iss. 1, Article 8
Erskine, Andrew (April 1995). "Greece & Rome, 2nd Ser". Culture and Power in
Ptolemaic Egypt: The Museum and Library of Alexandria. 42 (1): 38–48 [42]. One
effect of the newly created Hellenistic kingdoms was the imposition of Greek cities
occupied by Greeks on an alien landscape. In Egypt, there was a native Egyptian
population with its own culture, history, and traditions. The Greeks who came to
Egypt, to the court or to live in Alexandria, were separated from their original
cultures. Alexandria was the main Greek city of Egypt and within it there was an
extraordinary mix of Greeks from many cities and backgrounds.
Erskine, Andrew (April 1995). "Culture and Power in Ptolemaic Egypt: the Museum
and Library of Alexandria". Greece & Rome. 42 (1): 38–48.
doi:10.1017/S0017383500025213. The Ptolemaic emphasis on Greek culture establishes
the Greeks of Egypt with an identity for themselves. [...] But the emphasis on
Greek culture does even more than this – these are Greeks ruling in a foreign land.
The more Greeks can indulge in their own culture, the more they can exclude non-
Greeks, in other words Egyptians, the subjects whose land has been taken over. The
assertion of Greek culture serves to enforce Egyptian subjection. So the presence
in Alexandria of two institutions devoted to the preservation and study of Greek
culture acts as a powerful symbol of Egyptian exclusion and subjection. Texts from
other cultures could be kept in the library, but only once they had been
translated, that is to say Hellenized.
[...] A reading of Alexandrian poetry might easily give the impression that
Egyptians did not exist at all; indeed Egypt itself is hardly mentioned except for
the Nile and the Nile flood, [...] This omission of the Egypt and Egyptians from
poetry masks a fundamental insecurity. It is no coincidence that one of the few
poetic references to Egyptians presents them as muggers.
Delia, Diana (1988). "The Population of Roman Alexandria". Transactions of the
American Philological Association. 118: 275–292. doi:10.2307/284172. JSTOR 284172.
Philo of Alexandria, Against Flaccus.
Ammianus Marcellinus, "Res Gestae", 26.10.15–19 Archived 17 March 2008 at the
Wayback Machine
Stiros, Stathis C.: "The AD 365 Crete earthquake and possible seismic clustering
during the fourth to sixth centuries AD in the Eastern Mediterranean: a review of
historical and archaeological data", Journal of Structural Geology, Vol. 23 (2001),
pp. 545–562 (549 & 557)
Safiur-Rahman Mubarakpuri, The Sealed Nectar Archived 5 September 2015 at the
Wayback Machine, p. 222
Akbar Shāh Ḵẖān Najībābādī, History of Islam, Volume 1, p. 194. Quote: "Again, the
Holy Prophet «P sent Dihyah bin Khalifa Kalbi to the Byzantine king Heraclius,
Hatib bin Abi Baltaeh to the king of Egypt and Alexandria; Allabn Al-Hazermi to
Munzer bin Sawa the king of Bahrain; Amer bin Aas to the king of Oman. Salit bin
Amri to Hozah bin Ali— the king of Yamama; Shiya bin Wahab to Haris bin Ghasanni to
the king of Damascus"
Mubarakpuri, Saifur Rahman Al (2005), The Sealed Nectar, Darussalam Publications,
p. 226, archived from the original on 5 September 2015, retrieved 1 July 2015
(online Archived 17 March 2015 at the Wayback Machine)
Watt, W. Montgomery (1956). Muhammad at Medina. Oxford University Press. p. 108.
ISBN 978-0-19-577307-1. Archived from the original on 5 September 2015. Retrieved 1
July 2015. Dihyah b. Khalifah al-Kalbi, who had gone to Syria on an errand for
Muhammad, was returning to Medina with gifts, when he was robbed by a man of Judham
called al-Hunayd. Another clan of Judham, however, or some men from another tribe,
forced al-Hunayd to give the things back. Meanwhile a leader of Judham, Rifa'ah b.
Zayd, had been in Medina, had brought back to the tribe Muhammad's terms for an
alliance, and the tribe had accepted. Muhammad had not been informed of this
decision, however, and sent out Zayd b. Harithah to avenge the insult to his
messenger. There was a skirmish in which the Muslims killed al-Hunayd and captured
a number of women and animals. (free online Archived 7 October 2014 at the Wayback
Machine)
Kennedy, Hugh (1998). "Egypt as a Province in the Islamic Caliphate, 641–868". In
Petry, Carl F. (ed.). Cambridge History of Egypt, Volume One: Islamic Egypt, 640–
1517. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 62–85 [69]. ISBN 0-521-47137-0.
Bruning, Jelle (2018). The Rise of a Capital: Al-Fusṭāṭ and Its Hinterland, 18-
132/639-750. Leiden and Boston: Brill. pp. 50–52. ISBN 978-90-04-36635-0.
"Modern""The History of Alexandria". Archived from the original on 24 May 2013.
Retrieved 24 May 2013.
"Bombardment of Alexandria". Archived from the original on 13 November 2012.
Retrieved 11 September 2017.
Ted Thornton, "Nasser Assassination Attempt, October 26, 1954," Middle East
History Database"Nasser Assassination Attempt, October 26, 1954". Archived from the
original on 5 January 2010. Retrieved 24 May 2013.
Ibn Batuta (2009). The travels of Ibn Battuta in the Near East, Asia and Africa
1304–1377. Translated by Lee, Samuel. New York: Cosimo. ISBN 9781605206219. OCLC
502998972.
Clayton, Peter A.; Price, Martin (21 August 2013). "The Seven Wonders of the
Ancient World". Routledge – via Google Books.
Rostovtzeff 1941: (1138–39)
Josiah Russell, 1958, "Late Ancient and Medieval Population," pp. 67 and 79.
Elio Lo Cascio, 2009, "Urbanization as a Proxy of Growth," p. 97 citing Bagnall
and Frier.
"Koeppen-Geiger.vu-wien.ac.at". Archived from the original on 17 October 2011.
Retrieved 30 November 2009.
"Alexandria". Encyclopædia Britannica. Archived from the original on 29 May 2010.
Retrieved 1 December 2009.
"Egypt Climate Index". Climate Charts. Archived from the original on 23 June 2012.
Retrieved 20 June 2013.
"Deadly flash floods hit Egypt's Alexandria". aljazeera.com. Archived from the
original on 12 October 2016. Retrieved 12 October 2016.
"Clima en Alexandria / Nouzha – Históricos el tiempo". Tutiempo.net. Archived from
the original on 15 June 2013. Retrieved 12 March 2013.
"Alexandria, Egypt". Voodoo Skies. Archived from the original on 5 September 2015.
Retrieved 3 August 2015.
"Weather Information for Alexandria". Archived from the original on 10 February
2018. Retrieved 21 August 2017.
"Climatological Information for Alexandria, Egypt" (1961–1990)". Hong Kong
Observatory. Archived from the original on 1 February 2011. Retrieved 31 August
2010.
"Alexandria, Egypt: Climate, Global Warming, and Daylight Charts and Data".
Archived from the original on 1 January 2011. Retrieved 20 June 2013.
Alexandria, Egypt Monthly Averages Archived 20 May 2013 at the Wayback Machine –
Bing Weather[You must have an IP from the United States of America to see the page]
"Alexandria Climate and Weather Averages, Egypt". Weather2Travel. Archived from
the original on 5 January 2014. Retrieved 20 January 2014.
The Pyramids and Sphinx by Desmond Stewart and editors of the Newsweek Book
Division 1971 p. 80-81
"NOVA Online | Mysteries of the Nile | 27 August 1999: The Third Attempt".
Pbs.org. 27 August 1999. Archived from the original on 30 April 2009. Retrieved 5
May 2009.
Time Life Lost Civilizations series: Ramses II: Magnificence on the Nile (1993)p.
56-57
Planet, Lonely. "Catacombs of Kom ash-Suqqafa – Lonely Planet". lonelyplanet.com.
Archived from the original on 6 February 2016. Retrieved 6 February 2016.
"Fgs Project Alexandria". Underwaterdiscovery.org. Archived from the original on 7
March 2010. Retrieved 14 June 2010.
"Divers probe underwater palace". BBC News. 28 October 1998. Archived from the
original on 18 March 2007. Retrieved 19 January 2009.
"New underwater tourist attraction in Egypt". BBC News. 24 September 2000.
Archived from the original on 18 March 2007. Retrieved 19 January 2009.
Judith McKenzie et al., The Architecture of Alexandria and Egypt, C. 300 B.C. to
A.D. 700 New Haven CT: Yale University Press, 2007. 41-48.
https://books.google.com/books?id=KFNCaZEZKYAC ISBN 9780300115550
Britannica, Egypt Archived 8 July 2019 at the Wayback Machine, britannica.com,
USA, accessed on 7 July 2019
Egypt to restore Alexandria's historic synagogue, (20 December 2010) Archived 24
December 2010 at the Wayback Machine
Kendall, Elisabeth. "Between Politics and Literature: Journals in Alexandria and
Istanbul at the End of the Nineteenth Century" (Chapter 15). In: Fawaz, Leila
Tarazi and C. A. Bayly (editors) and Robert Ilbert (collaboration). Modernity and
Culture: From the Mediterranean to the Indian Ocean. Columbia University Press,
2002. ISBN 0231114273, 9780231114271. Start: p. 330. CITED: p. 340.
"A new gateway for Alexandria". Al-Ahram Weekly. Archived from the original on 4
September 2009.
"Egypt's $1bn Alexandria Metro to start construction in Q1 2020". Middle East
Construction News. 10 November 2019. Retrieved 12 November 2019.
Raven, James (2004). Lost Libraries: The Destruction of Great Book Collections
Since Antiquity. Springer. p. 12. ISBN 0230524257.
Long, Tony (16 October 2009). "Oct. 16, 2002: Second Great Library Opens in
Alexandria" – via www.wired.com.
"Egypt's Alexandria to create private tourist-only beaches". Egypt's Alexandria to
create private tourist-only beaches (in Turkish). Archived from the original on 30
July 2018. Retrieved 30 July 2018.
"Partner (Twin) towns of Bratislava". Bratislava-City.sk. Archived from the
original on 28 July 2013. Retrieved 5 August 2013.
"Sister Cities International (SCI)". Sister-cities.org. Archived from the original
on 13 June 2015. Retrieved 21 April 2013.
"Sister Cities Home Page". Archived from the original on 11 October 2012.
eThekwini Online: The Official Site of the City of Durban
"Accords de coopération Archived 4 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine" (PDF). Site
Officiel de la Ville de Marseille (in French).
"Limassol Twinned Cities". Limassol (Lemesos) Municipality. Archived from the
original on 1 April 2013. Retrieved 29 July 2013.
"Shanghai Foreign Affairs". www.shfao.gov.cn. Archived from the original on 18 May
2011. Retrieved 1 September 2018.
"Международные и межрегиональные связи". gov.spb.ru (in Russian). Federal city of
Saint Petersburg. Retrieved 30 January 2020.
"Αδελφοποιημένες Πόλεις" Archived 24 April 2016 at the Wayback Machine.
Municipality of Thessaloniki.
"Paphos and Alexandria sign twining protocol". In-Cyprus.com. Archived from the
original on 13 July 2018. Retrieved 13 July 2018.
"Relazioni internazionali, siglato gemellaggio Catania-Alessandria d'Egitto".
Archived from the original on 14 July 2019. Retrieved 14 July 2019.
Further reading
A. Bernand, Alexandrie la Grande (1966)
A. J. Butler, The Arab Conquest of Egypt (2nd. ed., 1978)
P.-A. Claudel, Alexandrie. Histoire d'un mythe (2011)
A. De Cosson, Mareotis (1935)
J.-Y. Empereur, Alexandria Rediscovered (1998)
E. M. Forster, Alexandria A History and a Guide (1922) (reprint ed. M. Allott,
2004)
P. M. Fraser, Ptolemaic Alexandria (1972)
M. Haag, Alexandria: City of Memory (2004) [20th-century social and literary
history]
M. Haag, Vintage Alexandria: Photographs of the City 1860–1960 (2008)
M. Haag, Alexandria Illustrated
R. Ilbert, I. Yannakakis, Alexandrie 1860–1960 (1992)
R. Ilbert, Alexandrie entre deux mondes (1988)
Judith McKenzie et al., The Architecture of Alexandria and Egypt, 300 B.C.–A.D.
700. (Pelican History of Art, Yale University Press, 2007)
Philip Mansel, Levant: Splendour and Catastrophe on the Mediterranean, London, John
Murray, 11 November 2010, hardback, 480 pages, ISBN 978-0-7195-6707-0, New Haven,
Yale University Press, 24 May 2011, hardback, 470 pages, ISBN 978-0-300-17264-5
Don Nardo, A Travel Guide to Ancient Alexandria, Lucent Books. (2003)
V. W. Von Hagen, The Roads that Led to Rome (1967)
External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to:
Alexandria (category)
Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Alexandria.
"Alexandria". Egyptian government, Ministry of state For Administrative
Development. 2014.
"Greek Community of Alexandria". 2015.
Details on the archaïc port with a pdf of Gaston Jondet's report, 1916
Map of Alexandria, ca.1930, Eran Laor Cartographic Collection, The National Library
of Israel.