Emaar to redevelop site near Alexandria library

SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt: Dubai-based property development group Emaar aims to build a hotel and other facilities close to the site of Egypt s ancient Great Library at Alexandria, the company and local officials announced on Sunday. The site overlooks the eastern harbor, which was once dominated by the library and the Pharos lighthouse, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, and where Cleopatra is said to have first set eyes on Julius Caesar. The area was given a lease of life in 2002 when a new library was opened, the Bibliotheca Alexandria, shaped like a disc inclined toward the Mediterranean containing space for millions of books, a planetarium, arts center and exhibition spaces. An empty patch of land nearby could eventually house a five-star hotel, convention and exhibition facilities, retail space and parking, said Ismael Serageldin, director of the library. Within six months we should have something dramatic to show you, he told reporters at the World Economic Forum in Sharm El-Sheikh. Officials said it was too early to give a value for the project. The former library dominated the ancient world of learning from around the third century B.C. to the fourth century A.D. Reuters