Alexandria

There are few cities in the world can captivate your heart, one of them is without doubt the
Alexandria-Egypt, This was the Mediterranean's dazzling jewel of a city, home to the
Great Library of Alexandria and the colossal Pharos Lighthouse – one of the seven
wonders of the ancient world. Was one of 33 cities named after the great Greek Conqueror
Alexander the Great, Alexandria, the second largest city in Egypt, from the first visit, captivates
you, and fascinate you with its mix of history and modernity. Alexandria was founded by
Alexander the Great in 332 BC, laid on a Greek – city model by the Greek architect Dinocrates,
walled with a double harbor flanking the Island of Pharos, originally fronted the coastal
land.following its foundation and establishment Alexandria quickly became the most important
center of Hellenistic culture and learning and by 200 BC was the largest city in the world (later
was surpassed in size by Rome). It flourished for about 500 years, when it was taken as Egypt's
Capital during the Ptolemaic and Roman Periods, famous for its Library (which according to
historians housed one million manuscripts), and Lighthouse (which was one of the wonders of the
ancient world), was the ancient world's intellectual center because of its Museon (a scholarly
institution), that quickly overshadowed all earlier Greek cities. Distinguished scholars from
Greece and Rome had been to Alexandria in order to experience wisdom and The Culture of
Egypt. It was in Alexandria, that Christianity was introduced into Egypt, by St. Mark, and from
there spread in an unsurpassed way to the rest of the country. Lost its importance with the Arab –
Muslim conquest, when they founded a new capital (AL-Fustat), during the whole Islamic period
was nearly deserted, and at the time Mohamed Ali became Pasha of Egypt, was not more than a
small coastal city of fishermen, with a population of 10.000 people.
Alexandria's links with Europe and its location on the Mediterranean helped to regain its
importance under Mohamed Ali and his successors in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
Much of the infrastructure built in the mid-nineteenth century, especially the rail service (opened
in 1858), helped to link more closely Egypt's two main cities, Cairo and Alexandria.
Alexandria's role as the country's summer seat of the government, combined with its economic
importance and strategic value, had transformed the city by the end of the nineteenth century.
The association of the city with the industrial development of the Delta region, particularly with
the textile industry, may explain that number of textile factories there. A melting pot since the
nineteenth centuries for many European communities, especially Greeks, cultural life in
Alexandria has its unique characteristics, paving the way to be identified as center of artistic
activity, particularly in the visual arts.
Maybe, compared to Cairo and Luxor, it doesn't have such great number of
monuments, but the nearly dozen of historical sites, makes the city on top places to
visit in Egypt to capture a sense of days-gone by grandeur.