New Alexandria Library: A temple of knowledge


Nature 419, 556 - 557 (2002); doi:10.1038/419556a

New Alexandria Library: A temple of knowledge

The Library of Alexandria was the ancient world's premier seat of learning — its eventual destruction an intellectual tragedy. Can its spirit be revived in modern-day Egypt? Alison Abbott visits the Bibliotheca Alexandrina.

A statue of Toth, protector of the scribes, watches over the Bibliotheca Alexandrina's reading room.

Euclid wrote his Elements of Geometry there. Herophilus identified the brain, rather than the heart, as the centre of intelligence. Eratosthenes estimated the Earth's circumference with an error of just 140 kilometres. And Hipparchus calculated the year's length to within 6.5 minutes.