Alexandria: A City of Contrasts

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Had my cruise itinerary not included Alexandria, I probably would not have returned to Egypt. Given the opportunity to visit, I went with an open mind. I was anxious to see the new Bibliotheca Alexandrina (the Library) built to replace the ancient one, previously burned by Julius Caesar in 48 BC during the Alexandrian War. The ancient Library was to have held the world's knowledge.

The architecture of the new Library is magnificent to my eye, the competition for its design having been won by a Norwegian. This wonderful modern edifice of gray granite, glass and steel was opened in 2002. Inside the feeling is open with beautiful wood complementing the glass. On each of the 15 levels, there is contemporary sculpture with the nude female body well represented. A lower level houses a contemporary art gallery and several of the pieces on display when I visited were sexual in nature. There are 4 art galleries and a planetarium.


Each level is furnished with computer stations and women as well as men, occupied them when I was there. The stacks have room for many, many more volumes. They are well-organized as expected, and I took note of English language books that were several years old. The books were grouped according to subject and I noticed a variety of languages represented, since many countries have contributed to the collection. The books on FEMINISM were all in English.

Perhaps to preserve the number of volumes, no books may be checked out. Instead, one may copy up to 20 percent of a book at one time. There is a low vision area to service the blind or visually impaired, and the Library has a program, a gift of the University of California at San Francisco that maintains all web pages that have been published since 1996.







My preconceived notion was that Alexandria would be more progressive than the other Egypt that I had visited in 1990, and I could not wait to see what this country, which is slipping back into fundamentalism, was like in 2010.

I found women apparent everywhere , and quite noticeably at the Library. Most were well decked-out in coordinated head scarf and jewelry, and I was struck by a particular young woman who was heavily made up, daringly clad in slim jeans, knee-high boots, and...... a head scarf.

If memory serves, in 1990 women were more scarcely seen in public. Now, although young women are apparent everywhere, I don’t recall having seen a female who was "of age" without at least a headscarf, although Coptic Christians and a few Jews are still present and would not be wearing them.

I was really surprised by the number of women covered by the niqab, or the more familiar term to Americans, the burqa. As I looked and photographed, I embraced the feeling that Alexandria is indeed a study in contrasts.


Outside the library young couples meet. No, they still do not hold hands, but the young women hold their heads in a universally recognized flirtatious pose, looking up at their young men. I was told that couples are not marrying at young ages anymore because the families cannot afford the requisite dowries, given the economy of the world. Thus, they meet at the Library, the Corniche, or escape to the Gardens of former King Farouk’s Palace away from the city center, to stroll at dusk, hand in hand.


The governor of Alexandria has made a statement/commitment in providing for public art in all plazas and tourist areas.

Will the art be maintained? Will artists continue to be supported in making uncensored art? Will the Library be maintained? Can it be maintained? And how will the rising Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt impact all of this? Contrasts.....

I arrived in Alexandria on December 1, 2010. Five days after I disembarked from my ship (on December 5), Royal Caribbean’s Brilliance of the Seas, my floating hotel, encountered a severe hurricane-like storm and the ship suffered severe damage, never making it to port in Alexandria. On January 1, 2011 the Coptic Church in Alexandria suffered the rage of a terrorist bomb.

I wonder how Lawrence Durrell might have perceived this?

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