Alexandria

The stone towers and walls of the Citadel of Qaitbay on the Alexandria shore under a blue sky.

03Cities and regions

Bride of the Mediterranean

Founded by Alexander the Great in 331 BC on the western edge of the Delta, Alexandria grew into one of the great cities of antiquity and a centre of science and learning. Today it is Egypt's second city and main port, stretching about 40 km along the coast. On the island of Pharos stood the Lighthouse of Alexandria, one of the Seven Wonders, estimated to have been at least 100 m tall, until earthquakes brought it down; its last stones went into the Citadel of Qaitbay, built in 1480 on the very same spot at the mouth of the Eastern Harbour. From the citadel the Corniche, the city's seafront road, runs for more than 16 km to the Montaza area. Along it rises the Bibliotheca Alexandrina, opened in 2002 in memory of the ancient library, with a reading room on eleven cascading levels under a glass roof tilted towards the sea like a sundial, and an outer wall of grey granite carved with characters from 120 scripts. Walk the Corniche at sunset, starting at the citadel and heading east with the sea.

0 BC
Alexandria founded: over 16 km
Length of the Corniche: 8 million books
Shelf space in the Bibliotheca Alexandrina: 0
Scripts carved on the library wall

Highlights

Lighthouse of AlexandriaBuilt under Ptolemy II and for centuries one of the tallest structures on earth, until earthquakes between 956 and 1303 ruined it.