With support from UNESCO, the bold new architectural vision by a young team of designers based in Norway was adopted. They joined forces with Egyptian engineering talent and the vision took shape and was carried out by Italian, British and Egyptian contractors. All hands joined to build a magnificent new structure to house the New Library on land donated by the University of Alexandria, where scholars' calls for the revival of the Library had been championed for three decades.

University of Alexandria was the first to call for the idea of reviving the Ancient Library of Alexandria. To that end, the University allocated the land. In 1988, the General Organization for Alexandria Library (GOAL) was then founded with a Presidential Decree and affiliated to the Ministry of Education under the supervision of Dr. Hussein Kamel Bahaa El-Din.

The implementation of the project construction started in 1995, and was carried out by the Arab Contractors with the participation of Italian and British companies. Dr. Mohsen Zahran played a crucial role in the materialization of the architectural design.

This enormous complex would not have been possible if Egypt’s commitment had not been so generously supported by many friends, who share the dream of reviving the spirit of the Ancient Library in terms suited to the new millennium.

Our thanks go to each and every one of them...
The hands of our friends are everywhere, across the building.