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Speech by Ismail Serageldin Let me offer a warm welcome to all of you attending the First Anniversary celebration for the Bibliotheca Alexandrina. The goal of the new Bibliotheca Alexandrina was never to try the impossible task of duplicating the ancient Library, but rather to revive the spirit of the seeking, learning, experimentation and dissemination that existed during the 700-year lifetime of the Ancient Library of Alexandria. The influence of the ancient Library has continued long beyond the time of its disappearance. It has been the mother of libraries and has set the traditions and standards for most libraries forever afterwards. The founders of the greatest libraries have all acknowledged that it was the ancient Library that inspired them, as Pope Nicholas V, founder of the Vatican Library in 1450, said. Even today, we have the Alexandria Project in the USA, the Alexandrina Project in Italy, the Alexa Internet and probably many other worthy efforts that were influenced by the mystique of the Alexandria Library. The new Bibliotheca Alexandrina, like its great predecessor, is committed to science, culture and knowledge. It seeks the revival of our heritage, as well as the production and dissemination of the new. We all have great expectations for the Library, but at the same time, we have to remember that this Library is just being born, and today we celebrate its anniversary. This past year, following the Inauguration on 16 October 2002, has been full of challenges. Our staff are exerting great efforts to ensure that our work will meet the highest international standards of excellence. We now have three museums and seven institutions within our fold. These are the Antiquities Museum, Manuscripts Museum, Science Museum, the Arts Center, International School for Information Science (ISIS), Documentation of Cultural and Natural Heritage Center (CULNAT), Manuscript Center, Calligraphy Institute, Research and Special Programs Center, and the Alexandria and Mediterranean Research Center. Our institutions support the Library’s goal in becoming a unique center of excellence in Egypt and the world. They also contribute to give substance to President Mubarak’s vision, when he promised the world at the Inauguration of the Library last October that the new Library would embody “the interconnection of cultures, pluralism and the glory of science and knowledge”. Under the wise guidance of Mrs. Mubarak and our distinguished Board of Trustees, and with the help of all our friends and supporters, we can indeed have confidence that one young Library will prove to be a worthy heir to the mantle of the ancient Library, reinterpreting its spirit for the new centuries. Ismail Serageldin General Director of the Bibliotheca Alexandrina Torna indietro |
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