Discover The Historical Heritage Of Alexandria

Alexandria is the second largest city in Egypt. Its spirit and culture are different from culture in the other parts of the country, even though it is situated only 22k km from Cairo. The city’s features are more likely to be characterized as Mediterranean that the Eastern ones.

Alexandria was founded in 332 B.C. when Egypt joint the Empire ruled by Alexander the Great. Alexander’s architect Denocrat was ordered to make the city’s plan and till nowadays, Alexandria keeps its original planning, with long main highways located parallel to seacoast and short transverse streets crossing them at right angles.

As the years passed, the city became an important trading centre as well as the centre for Hellenic spiritual life. During the reign of Alexander, a library with about a billion of books was built here which became the real crossroad for various language and religious schools. Besides the ancient Greek literature and science books, masterpieces on Eastern languages were kept here.

Also, book copy-makers were working in the library. Unfortunately, most of the books were destroyed during the siege by Julius Caesar’s forces, which caused a huge fire here. The other part of these treasures was destroyed by the Christian fanatics in the 4th century. And all that was left disappeared in 7-8 centuries during the Arabic reign. In 2002, the new library was opened in the city’s new 11-storeyed building, which stands on the same place where its antique predecessor was located. There are also planetarium, science museum, calligraphy museum, Alexandria museum, archeological museum, an international school of information science, the restoration and preservative labs, an Alexandria congress-centre 5 thousand sq.m large, exhibition halls and various subsidiary rooms found here.

One of the world miracles – the Pharos lighthouse was located not far from Alexandria. It was on its ruins that in the XV century sultan Ashraph built a Muslim fortress with round towers and loopholes overlooking the sea.

The largest in Egypt Roman burial called Kom al Sukkfa catacombs is situated in Alexandria. The catacombs architectural scheme combines the elements of Egyptian, Greek and Roman styles together. For instance, the chapel paintings present the scenes of the Christian burials while the chapel itself is protected by the Anubis Egyptian god.

Abu el-Abbas is considered to be the most beautiful mosque in Alexandria. Built almost fully in 1944, the mosque is the real masterpiece of construction arts.

Another thing that is definitely worth visiting in Alexandria is the Greek-roman museum with more than 40.000 exhibits.

Alexandria is one of the most important Middle Eastern resorts. It is renowned for its mild winter, exceptionally beautiful landscapes and wonderful snow-white beaches that stretch for 140 km along the Mediterranean Sea.