Alexandria
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1. Bibliotheca Alexandrina
ChatbyThis monumental $190 million UNESCO-sponsored project began with an instinctively appealing idea: to resurrect the Great Library of ancient Alexandria, once one of the world's major centers of learning. Its location near the Silsileh Peninsula, on the edge of the Eastern Harbor, has tremendous symbolic resonance, having been the royal quarters in ancient times and one of several possible locations of the original library. The modernist Norwegian-designed building is in the form of an enormous multitier cylinder tilted to face the sea, with a roof of diamond-shape windows that allow controlled light into the seven cascading interior floors. The most impressive feature, however, is the curving exterior wall covered in rough-hewn granite blocks from Aswan that have been engraved with letters from ancient languages. With an aim to promote intellectual excellence, the library is a repository for the printed word—it holds millions of books including rare manuscripts—but is also a facility to store knowledge in all its forms, from audio tape recordings to electronic media. It is a robust academic organization with seven specialist research centers and has the Virtual Immersive Science and Technology Applications (VISTA) system, which transforms 2D data into 3D simulations so researchers can study the projected behavior of theoretical models. The library also acts as a forum for cross-cultural academic discussion and is home to more than 10 institutes. Membership allows you to explore the archive and use the Internet for research, but don't expect to be able to use the facility like an Internet café. Once you've enjoyed the view of the vast interior from the mezzanine gallery, there's little to hold you in the main hall, but the library has several small museums and exhibitions. The Manuscripts Museum has a large collection of rare documents, parchments, and early printed books. The Impressions of Alexandria exhibition features paintings and sketches of the city dating from the 15th to the 19th centuries and photographs taken in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The Antiquities Museum on the basement level has a collection of finds from Pharaonic, Roman, and Islamic Alexandria. Examples of monumental Roman statuary include Huge Forearm Holding a Ball (nothing else remains of the immense piece), and a finely chiseled bust of the Emperor Octavian (Augustus). Egypto-Roman artifacts include the mummy of Anhk Hor, governor of Upper Egypt, and several 2nd-century funerary masks showing the prevalent cross-styling between the classical Egyptian and Roman Egyptian styles. A planetarium and IMAX theater are the latest additions to the complex, offering a range of science- and astronomy-based activities including stargazing and constellation identification as well as interactive museum displays.
View Tours and Activities63 Shar'a Soter, Alexandria, Alexandria, 21526, Egypt3-483–9999Sight Details
Rate Includes: Library LE70, Antiquities Museum LE50, Manuscripts Museum LE30, Planetarium and IMAX shows LE50, Closed Fri. until 3pm. -
2. Catacombs of Kom el-Shoqafa
KarmouzThis is the most impressive of Alexandria's ancient remains, dating from the 2nd century AD. Excavation started in 1892, and the catacombs were discovered accidentally eight years later when a donkey fell through a chamber ceiling. A long spiral staircase leads to the main hall. The stairs run down the outside of a shaft, which excavators used to transport the bodies of the dead. The staircase leads to the rotunda, which, like all but the lowest chamber, is undecorated but striking for the sheer scale of the underground space, supported by giant columns carved out of the bedrock. A few rooms branch off from the rotunda: the Triclinium was a banquet hall where relatives and friends toasted the deceased, and the Caracalla Hall has four lightly painted tombs and a case of bones. The next level down contains a labyrinth of smaller nooks for storing bodies and leads to the lowest excavated room, which is framed by columns and sculpted snakes. Casts of two statues stand here—the originals are in the Greco-Roman Museum—and three tombs are of interest for their mix of pharaonic and Greek imagery.
Alexandria, Alexandria, 21572, Egypt3-482–5800Sight Details
Rate Includes: LE80 (includes Pompey\'s Pillar) -
3. Alexandria National Museum
El ShallalatA small but high-quality collection of artifacts includes items found under the waters of the Western Harbor during recent marine archaeological projects. The display galleries cover every era of the city's long history and include Christian pieces, Islamic arts and crafts, and more recent information about Alexandria's colonial era. The early-20th-century Italianate palace that houses the museum, designed by a French architect, is a prime example of this colonial past.
110 Shar'a el Horreya, Alexandria, Alexandria, 21514, Egypt3-483–5519Sight Details
Rate Includes: LE100 -
4. Cavafy Museum
Mahatet El RamlConstantine Cavafy was ignored during his lifetime but has received international recognition since his death in 1933. His poetry, which focused on such themes as moral dilemmas and uncertainty about the future, resonated with the Greek-speaking community around the Eastern Mediterranean and has been widely translated. His poems, which include "The God Abandons Antony," and, most famously, "The City," are suffused with melancholy and a sense of alienation. The small flat where Cavafy spent the last years of his life has been turned into a museum. Half of it is given over to a re-creation of his home, with a period-piece brass bed and some reputedly genuine Christian icons. On the walls is a collection of portraits and sketches of Cavafy that only the most vain of men could have hung in his own apartment. The other half of the museum houses newspaper clippings about the poet's life and a library of his works, in the many languages and permutations in which they were published after his death—a remarkable legacy for a man who lived so quietly. There is, as well, a room dedicated to a student of Cavafy named Stratis Tsirkas, who lived in Upper Egypt and wrote a massive trilogy set in the Middle East. And there is one last curiosity: a cast of Cavafy's death mask lying cushioned on a purple pillow.
4 Shar'a CP Cavafy (formerly Shar'a Sharm El-Sheikh), Alexandria, Alexandria, 21131, Egypt3-468–1598Sight Details
Rate Includes: LE40, Closed Mon. -
5. Greco-Roman Museum
Raml StationThis museum was founded in 1895 and contains the best of the pieces found at Pompey's Pillar—including a statue of the Apis Bull—and two statues from the catacombs at Kom el-Shoqafa. This is Egypt's finest museum covering the period from Alexander the Great's conquest in 332 BC to the third Persian occupation in AD 619. There are a great many pharaonic pieces here as well; indeed, the most impressive thing about the museum is that it shows the scale of cross-fertilization between pharaonic culture and the Greek and Roman cultures that followed. Highlights of the collection include early Christian mummies, remnants of a temple to the crocodile god Sobek, and a courtyard full of sun-drenched statuary.
5 Shar'a al-Mathaf el Romani, Alexandria, Alexandria, Egypt3-483–6434Sight Details
Rate Includes: LE50 -
Recommended Fodor’s Video
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6. Kom al-Dikka
Kon al-DikkaThe focal point of this excavated section of the ancient city is a well-preserved amphitheater—the only one of its kind in Egypt—originally constructed in the 4th century AD, then rebuilt in the 6th century, following an earthquake. At that time a large dome was added (only its supporting columns still stand), and the theater went from being a cultural venue to a forum for public meetings of the City Council—a change deduced from ancient graffiti promoting various political parties. The other half of the site is the ancient baths and living quarters, although much of this area is best seen through the fence from the side near Pastroudis Café, where the cisterns and walls are clearly visible. The red bricks mark the location of the heated baths—warmed by an elaborate underground system—which complemented the adjacent cold and steam baths. The whole area fell into disuse after the 7th-century Persian conquest of Egypt. One noteworthy site in the residential section is a Roman house known as the Villa of the Birds, so named for its colorful floor mosaics depicting birds in several forms. The colorful and detailed craftsmanship shows a high level of sophistication. The mosaics, now restored, are protected by a modern structure. Operas are sometimes performed here in the summer.
Alexandria, Alexandria, 21131, Egypt3-486--5106Sight Details
Rate Includes: LE80 -
7. Pompey's Pillar
KarmouzOne of Alexandria's most iconic sights is this 88-foot-tall, hilltop, granite pillar surrounded by ruins. Known in Arabic as al-'Amud al-Sawiri (Column of the Horseman), the pillar was misnamed after Pompeius (106–48 BC) by the Crusaders. In fact, it dates to the 3rd century AD, when it was erected in honor of the emperor Diocletian on the site of a Ptolemaic temple to Serapis. Helpful signs on the ruins name each virtually empty spot as a "pool" or "bath," which to the untrained eye look like indistinguishable rocks. The late-model sphinxes lying around on pedestals add a little character. The most interesting element, ironically, is that from the hill you can get a glimpse inside the walled cemetery next door, as well as a view of a long and busy market street.
Corner of Amoud El Sawary and El Shenity Abou Mandour, Alexandria, Alexandria, 21566, Egypt3-960–1315Sight Details
Rate Includes: LE60 (includes the Catacombs of Kom el-Shoqafa) -
8. St. Mark's Pro-Cathedral
ManshiyaAfter St. Mark visited Alexandria in AD 49, the city became an early Christian outpost, building its first cathedral by AD 282. This church, constructed in 1855, was one of the few buildings undamaged during the shelling of the city by British warships in 1882. It exhibits an odd mix of Western, Moorish, and Byzantine design elements that somehow manage to blend together harmoniously. The soft yellow stone and colorful stained-glass windows are particularly exquisite in the early morning sun. The walls are lined with plaques, some of which date back almost a century, commemorating members of the Anglican community for their years of long service to the church. A passport (the actual passport, not a copy) is required for entry.
Maydan Ahmed Orabi, Alexandria, Alexandria, 21517, Egypt3-487–9927Sight Details
Rate Includes: Free but a donation of LE30-50 is appropriate
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