Bibliotheca Alexandrina

The most striking piece of modern architecture in Egypt: a vast disc tilted toward the Mediterranean, 160 metres in diameter, evoking a rising sun. The exterior walls are carved with letters and symbols from every known alphabet, ancient to modern. Inside, the main reading room steps down in eleven cascading terraces under a glass-and-aluminium roof.

The complex contains the main library (with capacity for 8 million books), four specialised museums (Antiquities, Manuscripts, Sadat, History of Science), a planetarium, and rotating exhibition galleries. The whole site is worth a half day — minimum — and is one of the few cultural institutions in Egypt that consistently mounts world-class temporary exhibitions. Tickets are reasonable; closed Friday morning. The famous outdoor sundial in the plaza in front of the library is calibrated so that you, the visitor, become the gnomon — stand on the marked spot and your shadow tells the time.

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A story
The original Library of Alexandria, founded around 295 BC by Ptolemy I, aimed to assemble a copy of every book ever written. At its peak it held perhaps 400,000 to 700,000 scrolls. Its destruction is usually blamed on the burning of the city by Julius Caesar's forces in 48 BC — but the truth is messier; the library was probably gradually depleted across several events, including the civil wars of the 3rd century AD. The new Bibliotheca, opened in 2002, sits about 200 metres from the suspected location of the original.