Clockwise from upper left: Alexandria from Citadel of Qaitbay, Citadel of Qaitbay, tomb painting in Catacombs of Kom El Shoqafa, Bibliotheca Alexandrina (Photos by Don Knebel)
Today, we end our tour of Egypt with a day trip to Alexandria, a city along the Mediterranean coast with a current population of more than six million, making it the second largest city in Egypt. Alexandria was founded in 331 B.C. by Alexander the Great, who named the city for himself. After Alexander’s death, his general declared himself Pharaoh Ptolemy I and moved the capital of Egypt to Alexandria. Ancient Alexandria was famous for its library, built by Pharaoh Ptolemy II, Ptolemy’s son, which may have contained 400,000 scrolls. The library, among the ancient world’s most important, made Alexandria the intellectual center of the ancient world. That library no longer exists, but the modern Bibliotheca Alexandrina seeks to duplicate its international importance. The new library, which opened in 2002, has shelf space for eight million books and a main reading room occupying 220,000 square feet. It is rapidly digitizing its collection, seeking to make it available worldwide. Ancient Alexandria was also famous for a 330-foot-tall lighthouse built on Pharos Island north of the city by Ptolemy II. The lighthouse, completely destroyed by earthquakes by the fourteenth century, was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. In the fifteenth century, the sultan of Egypt built a defensive fortress on the site of the destroyed lighthouse to protect Egypt from the Turks. Today, the restored Citadel of Qaitbay is open to visitors, who reach it over an ancient causeway linking Pharos Island to the mainland. Visitors can also explore the Catacombs of Kom El Shoqafa, considered one of the Seven Wonders of the Middle Ages. The catacombs, built by the Romans, include three levels of tombs cut into the bedrock and reachable by a circular stairway. Many of the tombs are accompanied by carvings, some in the style of ancient Egypt. Alexandria is not on all Egypt itineraries, but it should be.
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