In the shape of a solar disk, Alexandria's new library was built on the site of its prestigious predecessor and is set to shine once more in the Mediterranean world. Like a phoenix rising out of the ashes, it seems to emerge from the water. The side ..

A stroll along the Corniche, from Qaitbay Fort to the new library , gives a real insight into the Mediterranean character of a city looking to the West. It will also give you a taste of the cosmopolitan atmosphere of the 1930s to the 1950s, for ex..

This museum, which was inaugurated in 2003, houses around 2 000 pieces from the Pharaonic era to the Greco-Roman, Coptic and Islamic periods, as well as finds from marine archaeology explorations carried out off Alexandria's shores. The museum's tr..

The collections mainly cover the Greco-Roman period, although finds from digs in the Delta, El Fayum and the Alexandria region have been added over the years. The museum, founded by Italian archaeologist Giuseppe Botti in 1892, is closed for works bu..

Long after its light was extinguished memories of it glowed in the minds of men. Thus EM Forster described the lighthouse of Alexandria, one of the Seven Wonders of the World. In the 15C Sultan Ashraf Qaitbay decided to build an imposing fortress w..

This vast hypogeum with a capacity for up to 300 tombs dates from the beginning of our era and stands on three underground levels dug out of the rock as deep as 35m. The finest, or Main Tomb (2C), is reached by a spiral staircase and boasts excepti..

Little remains of the Serapeum , a sanctuary dedicated to the Greco-Roman god Serapis (combination of Osiris and Apis), as it was destroyed by the Christians. Happily, the Pillar of Pompeii , dedicated to Emperor Diocletian (contrary to what its na..

Unearthed in 1963 by the Polish Centre for Mediterranean Archaeology after a Napoleonic fort had been razed to make way for construction projects, this white marble odeon with a capacity of 800 spectators dates from the 4C. Laid out in a semi-circle ..

A thousand exhibits illustrate the history of Egypt from Pharaonic times up to the Islamic era. The collection of the Antiquities Museum is accompanied by objects found during construction of the new library (most notably the mosaic depicting a sitti..

The Manuscript Museum boasts an incredible selection of the treasures of the Library. The collection is so large that the hundred or so manuscripts on display at any one time are regularly rotated. A few rare pieces remain, however, such as the facsi..

A beautiful villa built in 1919 for Fatma Ali Heider Fadel by an architect and ceramists from Italy houses the Royal Jewelry Museum, which was opened in 1986. Note the naturalistic animal friezes in the bathrooms and the sculpture by Jean-Baptiste Ca..

Restored thanks to the American Research Center in Egypt and inaugurated in January 2001, this Roman villa had been built over by the Byzantines in the late 5C. The flooring is decorated with beautiful mosaics , mostly dating from Hadrian's reign. S..