Over the past quarter century, a dream has slowly been taking shape on the edge of the Mediterranean in the fabled but faded Egyptian city of Alexandria. This autumn, the world will finally get a chance to take the measure of that dream.
Two millennia ago, the library at Alexandria was the focal point of the known intellectual universe. Housing hundreds of thousands of papyrus scrolls, it was a beacon for scholars rivaling the nearby lighthouse of Pharos as a wonder of the ancient world. Its destruction -- begun during the Roman invasion of 48 B.C. and completed several hundred years later at the hands of Christians -- became a byword for vandalism, overshadowing such modern cultural crimes as the Nazis' book burnings or the razing of a pair of centuries-old Buddhas in Afghanistan last March. Every schoolchild knew its sad story.
Then, 25 years ago, an Alexandria history professor came up with the idea of reviving the legendary library on or near the site of the original. With the support of UNESCO, the Egyptian government and a number of foreign countries, including Japan, the enormously ambitious project went forward. In October, barring any further delays, the brand-new, state-of-the-art Bibliotheca Alexandrina will at last gets its partial public opening, and a full-scale inauguration is scheduled for next spring.