Highlights of Alexandria

El-Mursi Abul-Abbas Mosque is a famous mosque in Alexandria, Egypt. It is dedicated to the 13th century Alexandrine Sufi saint el-Mursi Abul Abbas whose tomb it contains.It is located in the Anfoushi neighborhood of Alexandria, near the Citadel of Qaitbay.The Mosque was redesigned and built in today's current form by Eugenio Valzania and Mario Rossi in the years 1929/1945.

The Citadel of Qaitbay (or the Fort of Qaitbay) is a 15th-century defensive fortress located on the Mediterranean sea coast, which built upon/from the ruins of the Lighthouse of Alexandria, in Alexandria, Egypt. It was established in 1477 AD by Sultan Al-Ashraf Sayf al-Din Qa'it Bay. The Citadel is situated on the eastern side of the northern tip of Pharos Island at the mouth of the Eastern Harbour.

The Alexandria National Museum (ANM) in Egypt was inaugurated the 31 December 2003 by Hosni Mubarak and it's located in a restored Italian style palace in Tariq Al-Horreya Street (former Rue Fouad).

The building used to be home to the United States consulate.

It contains about 1,800 artifacts that narrate the story of Alexandria and Egypt. Most of these pieces came from other Egyptian museums. The museum mainly focuses on three collections: Ancient Egyptian, Coptic, and the Muslim world. The museum also includes works from the Hellenistic period, including pieces from Heraklion and Canopus. Objects include canopic jars, Mashrabiya, and pieces from the rule of Nectanebo II. The city of Alexandriais also included in the collection, including objects from the 20th century. Objects include pieces from Caracalla's rule, figures of Medusa, Islamicclothing, a bust of Briniky, and pieces of ancient ruins. The museum recently exhibited a sculpture which is believed to be of Alexander the Great.The museum also has a collection of jewelry, weapons, statuary, coins, and glassware.

The Corniche ( Al-Kurnīsh) is a waterfront promenade corniche in Alexandria, Egypt, running along the Eastern Harbour. It is one of the major corridors for traffic in Alexandria. The Corniche is formally designated "26 of July Road" west of Mansheya and "Army Road" east of it; however, these names are little used.Italian Egyptian architect Pietro Avoscani designed it in 1870. The western end starts by the Citadel of Qaitbay (built in place of the Lighthouse of Alexandria, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World). It runs for over ten miles and ends by the Montaza Palace.

The Cornish Road

Suggested Sites to visit in and around Alexandria

Alexandria National Museum

Abu El Abbas Mosque

Qaitbay Fortress

alexandria sightseeing guide

Key details

Day

tour

minimum 2 pers

$ 125

per person

Type

private/group

Schedule

tour itinerary

Services

Live guide

Pick-up service

ENQUIRE

National Museum Tour included	Abu el Abbas el Mursi Mosque Tour included
Corniche Road Tour included	Qaitbay Fortress Tour included
Montaza Palace	Pompey Pillar
The Roman Amphitheatre Tour included	The Royal Cemetery of Kom el Shoqafa
Alexandrina Library	Ptolemy I - Alexandrina Library
The Planetarium	Stanley Bridge
Mediterranean Sea shore	Wadi El Natroun

Full day tour of Alexandria which is the second capital of Egypt at around 220 Km away north of Cairo .

Start drive in the moring for around 02 hours and half with your English speaking Tour Guide to visit some of the city interest points -

Late afternoon drive back to Cairo . Overnight in Cairo.

Included

pick-up service
round trip transfers between hotel in Cairo and Alexandria
entrance fees for the mentioned sites
English speaking Tour guide
all service charges and taxes

Not included

lunch (despite stop will be arranged at client's own charge ) .
drinks
tips

Meeting point

hotel in Cairo

Tour itinerary

National Museum
Roman Amphitheatre
Abu El Abbas Mosque
Cornish Road
Quaitbay Fortress from outside

Montaza Palace and garden

Helmy II followed the construction of the two palaces himself and he named the whole complex, the Montazah, or the garden, a name that was suggested to him by Mahmoud Shokry Pasha, the head of the Turkish Divan in Egypt.After the death of Abbas Helmy II, the royal family continued taking care of the Montazah complex until the reign of the last king of Egypt, Farouk I. then, the Egyptian revolution of 1952 took place and the Palace was owned by the government which opened the gardens for public and the Salamlek Palace was transformed into a museum until it was added to the presidential palaces which serve as a hosting place for the president's visitors.

Pompey's Pillar

The Roman ruler of Egypt, during the reign of the Roman Emperor Diocletian, erected this memorial column between 284-305A.D in honour of the Roman Emperor, as a sign of gratitude. A serious revolt in the city took place and Diocletian came himself, ordering the city to be besieged. After 8 months of resistance, the city finally surrendered. As a result of the siege, there was famine in the city; therefore the Emperor ordered that a portion of the corn, which was sent to Rome annually, be given to the people of Alexandria.The remains, of the great Roman general Pompey were in a pot at the top of the column. Thus today it is called "Pompey's Pillar".

The Royal Cemetery of Kom el Shouqafa

The cemetery dates back to the 1st century A.D and was used until the 4th century A.D. It was discovered in 1900 when by pure chance, a donkey drawn cart fell into a pit, which led to the discovery. The Catacombs in Alexandria are so called because the design was very similar to the Christian Catacombs of Rome. The alexandrian catacombs was most likely a private tomb, later converted to a public cemetery and It consists of 3 levels cut into the bed rock, a staircase, a rotunda, the triclinium or a banquette hall, a vestibule, an antechamber and the burial chamber with three recesses on it; in each recess there is a sarcophagus.

Wadi El Natron

Wadi El- Natron is located 100 km to the north west of Cairo, it is a natural depression in the western desert. Now it is consisting of salt lakes and salt flats laying in the desert.Wadi el Natorn was very important to the ancient Egyptian since it was where they extracted the Natrun salt. Indeed and become more important during the early era of Christianity in Egypt. Today it is the centre of many monasteries dating back to the fourth century AD.These monasteries are: -The Monastery of Deir abu makar ( st. Makarous)-The Monastery of Deir Anba bishoy ( St bishoi)-The Monastery of Deir el Surian-The Monastery of Deir EL Baramous

Wadi El Natron

Cemetery of Kom El Shouqafa

Pompay's Pillar

Montaza Palaca

Qaitbay Fortress

Cornish Road

Abu El Abbas Mosque

National Museum

Alexandrina Library

The Royal Library of Alexandria or Ancient Library of Alexandria in Alexandria, Egypt, was one of the largest and most significant libraries of the ancient world. It was dedicated to the Muses, the nine goddesses of the arts. It flourished under the patronage of the Ptolemaic dynasty and functioned as a major center of scholarship from its construction in the 3rd century BC until the Roman conquest of Egypt in 30 BC, with collections of works, lecture halls, meeting rooms, and gardens. The library was part of a larger research institution called the Musaeum of Alexandria, where many of the most famous thinkers of the ancient world studied.

The library was created by Ptolemy I Soter, who was a Macedonian general and the successor of Alexander the Great. Most of the books were kept as papyrus scrolls. It is unknown how many such scrolls were housed at any given time.

The library is famous for having been burned down, resulting in the loss of many scrolls and books; its destruction has become a symbol for the loss of cultural knowledge. A few sources differ on who is responsible for the destruction and when it occurred. There is mythology regarding this main burning but the library may in truth have suffered several fires or other acts of destruction over many years. Possible occasions for the partial or complete destruction of the Library of Alexandria include a fire set by Julius Caesar in 48 BC and an attack by Aurelian in the AD 270s.

The Bibliotheca Alexandrina it is both a commemoration of the Library of Alexandria that was lost in antiquity, and an attempt to rekindle something of the brilliance that this earlier center of study and erudition represented.

The Biblioteca Alexandrina also contains a manuscript restoration laboratory, a planetarium (the large dome on the roof) and a grandconference center.

Alexandrina Library

The Serapeum (or Sarapeion) was a great temple dedicated to the Greek-Egyptian god Serapis in ancient Alexandria. Founded by Ptolemy I around 300 BC, it was infamously destroyed by Bishop Theophilus and his Christian mob in 391 AD.

Very little of the temple remains today, but visitors can enter the underground chamber that contained a cult image and the library and see some artifacts from the temple in the city's Greco-Roman Museum.

History of Serapeum

Ptolemy I Soter was a childhood friend and trusted general of Alexander the Great, and eventually took over rule of Egypt after the Macedonian's death. In an effort to unite the religions and cultures of the Egyptians and Greeks, Ptolemy I invented a new god, Serapis. He took a cult statue from Sinope and brought it to Alexandria, saying that he had been bidden to do so in a dream. According to tradition, the statue hopped in the Alexandrian ship after the locals proved unwilling to part with it. Upon its arrival in Alexandria, two religious experts in the employ of the king declared the statue to be Serapis.

Serapis was a combination of the traditional Egyptian gods Osiris and Apis, sprinkled with the attributes of the Hellenistic gods Zeus, Helios, Dionysus, Hades and Asklepius. Serapis was thus a supreme god of divine majesty and the sun (Zeus and Helios), fertility (Dionysos) the underworld and afterlife (Hades, Apis and Osiris) and healing (Asklepius). His connection to the afterlife and fertility were always primary.

Syncretism among Greek gods was a common practice, and there was already precedent for combining the Egyptian gods into one. Apis, the bull, was regard as the incarnation of Osiris, and Osiris was sometimes called "the bull of the west." Indeed, the practice of combining the two names occured before Ptolemy: "Osirapis" was worshipped in Memphis and perhaps already in Alexandria.

The cult statue of Serapis was in classical Greek form, with no animal-headed Egyptian characteristics that would have been off-putting to the Greeks. Its iconography was that of Hades — with robe, Greek hairstyle, and beard — with a basket of grain on his head symbolizing fertility and his connection with Osiris, god of grain. At his feet was Cerberus, the three-headed dog of the Greek underworld. As described by Clement of Alexandria, the statue was made of a combination of many precious materials and had a dark-blue color.

To properly house the statue, Ptolemy I constructed the grandSerapeum on the acropolis of Alexandria (a modest hill). The temple was resembled the famous Serapeum at Memphis and was elevated on a great platform, over 100 steps high. It was made of gleaming marble and painted and gilded on the inside. The statue of Serapis was said to be so large that each hand touched the wall on either side.

Both pagan and Christian writers recorded that the temple officials employed some clever techniques to wow the crowds. A hidden magnet was fixed in the ceiling above the statue, so that the statue of Serapis appeared to rise up and remain suspended in the air of its own accord. And a small window was positioned so that a beam of sunlight touched the lips of Serapis in a kiss of renewal.

Alexandria was the center for the cult of Serapis, which spread throughout the Roman Empire as far as Britain, and pilgrimages were made to the Serapeum. Alexandria also became an early center of Christianity, and it was at the Serapeum that the conflict between the two communities was most dramatically played out.

According to tradition, it was at the Serapeum around 68 AD that the pagans of Alexandria dragged St. Mark to death. And in 391 AD, afterBishop Theophilus of Alexandria desecrated the temple and paraded its cult objects in the streets, the pagans rioted and barracaded themselves with Christian prisoners inside the Serapeum.

Probably as he had planned all along, Theophilus advanced on the temple with troops. He spared the lives of the pagans inside but completely destroyed the temple. The Christian mob hesitated before striking the image of Serapis, fearing the sky would come crashing down, but eventually a soldier struck the first blow with an axe. When the sky remained intact, Serapis' head was chopped off and the statue was hacked to bits. To the delight of the Christians present, rats ran out of the hollow interior and the great Serapis was revealed to be nothing more than a man-made object.

As the temple itself was being torn down, heiroglyphics on the wall were noted by the Christians, who declared that the ankh symbol (which resembles the Christian cross) was a prophecy of the victory of Christianity. The Serapeum was replaced with a martyrs' shrine and a church, and all other images and temples in Alexandria were systematically destroyed and replaced with crosses and churches.

What to See at Serapeum

Virtually nothing of the temple (or the church) remains on the site today, except for some above-ground rubble and an underground vault with niches that contained an annex of the Library of Alexandria. The sphinxes and "Pompey's Pillar" on the site were not part of the Serapeum. A striking Apis bull statue, made of basalt stone, somehow survived from the Serapeum and is now in theGreco-Roman Museum. Also in the museum is a recently discovered dedicatory inscription from the temple.