The Bibliotheka IskandRAYa

An Egyptian corrected me yesterday on my pronounciation of Alexandria. :)

For those who read my previous post on Alexandria and thought maybe we'd forgotten to go visit the new Library, au contraire. I just decided that it deserved its own posting. :)

You probably already know about the great ancient library of Alexandria, which reputedly held the sum total of knowledge available at that time. I don't know if this is true, but I've read that every ship which entered Alexandria's port was required to hand over some manuscripts for copying. Ptolomy I was very interested in translating other cultures' works into Greek. I hadn't realized that one of the first projects was assigning the translation of the Jewish scriptures to seventy rabbis, hence its name Septuagint, which means "Seventy" in Latin.

They aren't certain who was responsible for the library's destruction but it was burnt to the ground in the 4th century. In 1987, Egypt in joint partnership with other Arab countries and UNESCO, undertook the creation of a new library for Alexandria. A Norwegian company won the contract with its design and, $355 million later, the doors opened in 2002.

It's a very cool design.

(photo from http://www.bibalex.gov.eg/English/gallery/images/a01.jpg)


The exterior of the building is engraved with letters, hieroglyphs, and pictograms from all the known languages.


The interior is well-designed, spacious, and uses natural light.
















Those pillars remind me of Roman columns. It was an impressive building, but, apart from the many tour groups passing through, the place was dead. There were virtually no patrons and the staff didn't look like they had much to do. I don't know if this was due to the fact that it was Ramadan or maybe the adjoining University wasn't in session or both. I spent some time looking through the stacks and was surprised to find that their collection used the Dewey Decimal system and that it rivalled what you would find in a midsized public library in the States.

From what I've read, the library has mostly relied on donations from around the world. I found a Croatian cookbook as a gift from the government of Croatia, a Harlequin romance from some American women's group in Cairo, an old Sunset magazine book on Bathrooms (like one you'd find at Home Depot), some old Frommer's travel books from the 1990s....it's almost as if Americans just cleaned out their garages and sent their books here to help out the cause. :) I looked at their collection development policy on the website (www.bibalex.gov.eg) and it indicated that due to budget constraints, the library is focusing on building up its sections on Egypt and the Middle East while temporarily collecting at a very basic level in other areas. The library boasts electronic access to 35,000 periodicals and has several digital initiatives. I hope the Bibliotheka Alexandria becomes the beacon of knowledge and dialogue it is striving to become in the Middle East.

A weekend in Alex......

Alexandria, that is. The city on the Mediterranean which didn't even exist during Pharoanic times but was founded by Alexander the Great in 3rd c. BC in order to create a port on the Mediterranean. Cleopatra was there. The Great Alexandrian Library was there. It even had one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, the great Pharos lighthouse which they think may have stood 40-50 stories tall. In the 19th-mid 20th century, Alexandria was a cosmopolitan city with many European communities; there were French patisseries, Greek cafes, British hotels, wide European boulevards, and lots of gardens.

Much of it's gone now. They're almost certain Alexander is buried here but can't find his tomb. Other than textual evidence and a few coins bearing her image, there is nothing left of Cleopatra's palace which was engulfed in a tsunami in 4th c. AD. The lighthouse toppled over into the sea from an earthquake in the 1300s. The great Library with all of its books and scrolls burnt to the ground. In the aftermath of the 1952 revolution, industries were nationalized and much of the expat communities left. Today, Alexandria is as Egyptian of a city as Cairo: the mosques, calls to prayer, coffee shops patronized only by men, Koshary shops, the piles upon piles of trash in the streets, traffic even more dangerous than Cairo, and major pollution, a big problem as the population has grown to 5 million.

But if one looks a little closer, there are hints of the past. Some of the old French street signs are still up. Some of the grand old cafes are still there with wooden interiors, ornate ceilings, and wide picture windows, though they don't serve french or greek pastries anymore. We had dinner at the Cecil Hotel whose guestbook includes writers like Somerset Maugham and Noel Coward and has a lovely antique elevator. The Cecil was where the British Intelligence purportedly hatched their deception plan at El-Alamein. As you walk along the streets and look up, there are still some elegant balconies with ornate iron scrollwork. Plus, from what our guide said, whenever they try to dig up any ground for building or renovation, work has to be stopped because they inevitably find some piece of antiquity.

OK, now for the photos. :) These are from Ramses train station in Cairo (we took the train to Alex). I tried to surreptitiously take a photo of the men praying on a tarp which had been laid out for that purpose. We were in the station for about 45 minutes and people were continually coming up and praying for about 5 minutes and then going on their way.
















The view from our hotel room. The Mediterranean and Montazah Gardens. The Montazah Gardens were created by a Sultan in the 1800s who wanted to make his Austrian mistress feel more at home!! You can see the tower of the Haramlik Palace in the background which we then visited the next morning. President Mubarak uses it to host foreign dignitaries.

















This was the site of a Greek temple, the Serapeum, dedicated to the city's god Serapis...a god concocted to blend elements of the Egyptian god Osiris with the Greek god Dionysus in order that both peoples in Alexandria could worship it. Apparently, it worked. There are remains from the temple scattered throughout this site, but the two objects in the photo on the left are not from them. The piece with the hieroglyphics had been brought up from ancient Heliopolis and the pillar was erected to the Roman emperor Diocletian.
















A side street decorated for Ramadan.


A Roman theater. According to the Arab general who conquered in 641 AD, Alexandria had about 400 at the time.


One photo from the Alexandria National Museum, just because it looks neat: a bust of Akhenaten. Many of the pharoahs blur together for me, but he's one that stands out.


These last two photos are from walks we took the last few nights of Ramadan. We had been warned about the crowds shopping but it was really crazy as people were shopping before Eid. We actually saw clothes flying through the air, vendors had clothes spread out on blankets on the street and were shouting at the top of their lungs. At one point, all the vendors picked up their blankets and ran off, in 30 seconds the street was empty of vendors. We were wondering what was going on until we saw the police car slowly pass through. After the police had passed, the vendors were back, shouting and the crowds gathered round again. We enjoyed the show. :)

Eid Mubarak!!

or Happy Eid. Eid is the 3 day celebration which ends Ramadan. There are a lot of cultural parallels to Christmas. The streets are crazy with shoppers; everyone gets gussied up in new clothes and visits family, and there's lots and lots of eating. Plus, there are Eid cookies!! 2 Egyptian ladies who work here brought some cookies in for me to try. The cookie which you see everywhere and from what I understand is only baked at Eid is the powdered sugar one which looks like a Russian Teacake. They are filled with dates, or candy, or sugar and nuts. I can't wait until Christmas to repay the favor and make them some of Mom's sugar cookies!!

The Citadel

Hello again. This week's adventure was a trip to the Citadel, a fortress built by Salah al-Din (often referred to as Saladin) during the Crusades in the 12th century. The people of Cairo asked for protection against the Crusaders, so the Sultan of Syria sent his Kurdish commander, General Shirkuh. After his death, he was succeeded by his nephew Salah al-Din. Shortly after Salah al-Din became Sultan, he began work on the Citadel, and became yet another builder to strip limestone off the pyramids at Giza.

We don't have a photo of this unfortunately, but the Citadel sits up on a bluff and is a prominent feature on the Cairene horizon. It was the first landmark I saw in Cairo...the fortification itself as well as the domes of the Mohammad Ali mosque in the center of the complex. A picture of a small section of the walls and towers:


And then a view of Cairo from one of the ramparts:



Salah al-Din's original Citadel was reinforced and fortified by just about every ruler and invader who took over after him. I know that some destroyed most of what was there and rebuilt so I don't know if any of the original Citadel still exists! At any rate, although Salah al-Din didn't live there, his nephew al-Kamil who succeeded him moved in and the Citadel served as the royal residence for the next 700 years. One of its last residents was Muhammad Ali who ruled from 1806-1849 and , according to my guidebook, was responsible for much of what the Citadel is today including the mosque he built in 1839.

The Muhammad Ali mosque:


Before entering the mosque, they asked everyone to take off their shoes and then the women who were wearing short-sleeved shirts or shorts were draped in a green smock. Interestingly, they didn't concern themselves with women covering their heads. Some women did and others didn't. Some images of the mosque inside. The man talking with David had offered to be our tour guide and he was actually really informative. We were glad to have taken him up on his offer.















Now I can't find the photo but our tour guide told us a story about the clock tower in the mosque courtyard. It was a gift from King Louis-Philippe from France in exchange for the obelisk from Luxor Muhammad Ali relinquished (the Obelisk which now stands in the Place de la Concorde in Paris). The clock was the first electric clock introduced to the Middle East but it was damaged in transport and dead on arrival. There's been a few attempts to repair it to little avail but recently, some bigwig (I couldn't understand who it was from what our guide said) came through and was dismayed at it not working and said his country would send a repairman to come fix it (maybe he was from France?). The repairman came over and said he would start working on it once it was cleaned so the government put him up in a condo in Cairo and has a team at work on it. That was 12 years ago and they still haven't finished....not even close. Our tour guide said they work less than an hour a day. When we were there, there was a man sitting on the scaffolding but he wasn't working! According to our tour guide, the repairman is still living in the condo. :)

Muhammad Ali is infamous for the banquet he gave in 1811 for 470 prominent Mamluk citizens. The Mamluks were out of power but still influential foes of the new ruler. After the feast, he trapped them in the narrow passageway of one of the large Citadel gates and his guards shot and killed all of them. We didn't actually find this gate. It was 104 degrees out so we hit some highlights and will come back when it's cooler!

Muhammad Ali tore down a great many earlier buildings to make room for his own monuments and palaces but one mosque which escaped his demolition was the Al-Nasir Muhammad Mosque which was built in 1335. Apparently, he used it for his stables which is amazing because the columns you see in these photos are from the pharoanic and Roman eras. I guess when you have a wealth of historic treasures you can afford to be casual with the past.

10 observations on Ramadan

1. Ramadan started August 22nd. For those not familiar with it, Ramadan is a holy month in the Islamic calendar where all Moslems fast during the day......they fast from eating, drinking, and sexual contact from dawn to dusk and devote these energies to spiritual reflection. It's one of the five pillars of Islam along with the confession of faith, praying towards Mecca five times a day, giving alms, and a pilgrimage to Mecca.

2. So they get up before the early morning prayer at 4 AM to eat and drink, then come together with friends and family for iftar which is the meal after sundown...around 6:30 pm. Actually, sunset was 7:30 but Egypt has instituted Daylight Savings time for Ramadan so people don't have to wait so long to eat. :) (Correction: David just told me that actually they've temporarily suspended Daylight Savings Time until after Ramadan....I always forget whether we're in DST or not. The point is that sunset occurs an hour earlier. :)

3. August is a particularly tough time for Ramadan.....imagine not drinking water during the hottest month of the year!! Children, pregnant women, and the elderly are exempt and I guess you can use disgression if you're sick. Last week, Laila, who's the secretary for David's team, had the flu and was talking about how tough it was to recover when she can't drink to keep herself hydrated, but then a few days ago, Samia wasn't feeling well and asked for some juice during our Arabic lesson. She said God would understand. :)

4. I just read an article in today's paper about 155 Egyptians who were just arrested for eating and drinking on purpose during the day. They were arrested as part of a campaign in the Aswan governate,which started at the beginning of Ramadan, to target the disobedient among "those who profess". Human rights activists have complained, stating that there is no law against non-fasting Moslems. Apparently, in more conservative countries like Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, you can be arrested for not fasting and thrown in jail for a month.

5. Last week, we were driving into Cairo right around 6:15 pm, almost sunset, and we saw vendors getting ready at medians in the middle of roads with little sandwich bags filled with sugar water, fruit juice, or soda so drivers can buy a little sugar rush as they drive home to iftar. That's one thing we were warned about by those who've lived here for years: watch out on the roads during Ramadan. There are lots of sleepy and cranky drivers out there!

6. I don't know how common this is, but the Egyptians who work on the compound here as well as those David works with have been working shortened hours,, so there's more time to spend with family and at home. The meal of iftar is a time to eat well and celebrate with family; actually Samia told me that they don't get a whole lot of sleep because they stay up and eat throughout the night (this is also why they don't lose as much weight as one might expect!).

7. Not only do they stay up all night eating but apparently it's a Ramadan tradition to be glued to the boob tube. There are sitcoms, soap operas, and miniseries which only show during the month of Ramadan. Tony, the bartender, said that all Egyptian women are addicted to these shows. :) We went to a outdoor cafe and they had set up projectors and large screens in order to broadcast the television lineup.

8. There's also a tradition of hospitality in Ramadan. Wealthy people offer meals for the poor and you can find banquets set up in the streets or in tents in Cairo with free iftar meals. Many of the hotels have set up tents as well, so I imagine it's conducive to a party atmosphere.

9. From what I've gathered, as oftentimes happens with holidays and traditions, the original intent of Ramadan can get lost in the culture which has risen around it. I've noticed Ramadan sales in stores and I read some criticism in one of the Egyptian newspapers of how commercialized Ramadan has become as well as disapproval of some of the immoral themes featured in Ramadan television shows.

10. It's also a tradition to hang lanterns, like the one in the photo above, from your business or house, though I've mainly seen them perched on the porches of wealthy houses. We were staying the night at the crashpad in Cairo and I couldn't sleep so I went out to the balcony, hoping to see thousands of lit lanterns, but really didn't see any at all. I did see plenty of lights turn on around 4 AM....I'd be up early to eat too!! :)

My Middle Eastern rug

A few days ago, a group of us went to one of the flagship stores of Oriental Weavers, a rug manufacturer here in Egypt. We looked at wool rugs, acrylic rugs, big rugs, little rugs and I realized that, unlike the others, I really wasn't interested in rugs as a practical floor covering as I was in a piece of ART. Especially since I don't even know what our next house is going to look like. They had silk rugs from Iran and India and I loved those but they were several thousand dollars just for the 5 x 7s so I had to settle with running my hands over them, oohing and awing.

Then right as we were leaving and the others were paying for their purchases, I saw it. It was pink and it was shag, but I loved it! For the pics, I laid it over the bed in our guest bedroom which gets a lot of light, but the photos still do NOT do this rug justice. It's sort of a lavender-muted pink color and there are hundreds of little pieces of satin interwoven throughout the shag which look like little flowers. Oh well, you'll just have to see it next time you visit us.
















If someone had told me that morning that by the end of the day, I would have bought a pink shag rug, I would have thought Impossible!! But here I am. I just can't wait for the future conversation where I'll say "Oh....that??? I got that when I lived in the Middle East" :)

P.S. David liked it too!!