Bibliotheca Alexandrina

On October 16, 2002 the inauguration of the Bibliotheca Alexandrina, a modern version of the famous ancient library took place. The Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak opened the library together with his wife Suzanne, who is a prime advocate of the project. The 230 million US$ project aspires to reflect the spirit of the ancient Bibliotheca, founded around 295 B.C. by Ptolemy I Soter, the successor of this city's founder, Alexander the Great.

A number of museums are affiliated with the Bibliotheca. The Antiquities Museum shows some of the remarkable findings of Franck Goddio's excavations in the Eastern Harbour of Alexandria and the Canopic Region. Those include a granite colossal head representing Caesarion, which must have belonged to a statute as tall as five metres, or the beautiful headless statue of a queen.