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Bibliotheca Alexandrina

The Bibliotheca Alexandrina (English: Library of Alexandria; Arabic: مكتبة الإسكندرية‎, Maktabat al-Iskandarīyah, Egyptian ) in Alexandria is a wonderful reincarnation of the famed ancient library of Alexandria. The original library held the largest collection of manuscripts in the world and was a great center of learning for 600 years until it burned down in the 3rd century. The dramatic new library, resembling an angled discus or a great sundial, was designed by a Norwegian architect and cost about $200 million.

The Bibliotheca Alexandrina is trilingual, containing books in English ,Arabic and French. In 2010, the National Library of France, Bibliothèque nationale de France (BnF), donated 500000 books towards the Bibliotheca Alexandrina. This makes the Bibliotheca Alexandrina the sixth-largest Francophone library in the world, as well as the largest depository of French books in the Arabic world, in addition to being the main French library in Africa.

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