Alexandria Introduction Walking Tour III (Self Guided), Alexandria

The Serapeum was a temple built by Ptolemy III and dedicated to Serapis, the syncretic Hellenistic-Egyptian god who was made the protector of Alexandria. The Serapeum was the largest and most magnificent of all temples in the Greek quarter of Alexandria. Besides the image of the god, the temple precinct housed an offshoot collection of the great Library of Alexandria. The Serapeum in Alexandria was destroyed by a Christian crowd or Roman soldiers in 391.

A film called Agora was released in 2009 depicting these and other events, with semi-historical accuracy . The destruction of the Serapeum, described by Christian writers Tyrannius Rufinus and Sozomen, was but the most spectacular of such conflicts, according to Peter Brown. Several other ancient and modern authors, instead, have interpreted the destruction of the Serapeum in Alexandria as representative of the triumph of Christianity and an example of the attitude of the Christians towards pagans.

The largest Roman triumphal column constructed outside of the imperial capitals of Rome and Constantinople, Pompey's Pillar is one of the best-known ancient monuments still standing in Alexandria today. The only known free-standing column in Roman Egypt which was not composed of drums, it is one of the largest ancient monoliths and one of the largest monolithic columns ever erected. It is located on Alexandria's ancient acropolis - a modest hill located adjacent to the city's Arab cemetery—and was originally part of a temple colonnade. Including its pedestal, it is 30 meters high; the shaft is of polished red granite, 2.7 meters in diameter at the base, tapering to 2.4 meters at the top. The shaft is 27 meters high made out of a single piece of granite. Pompey's Pillar may have been erected using the same methods that were used to erect the ancient obelisks. The structure was plundered and demolished in the 4th century when a bishop decreed that Paganism must be eradicated. "Pompey's Pillar" is a misnomer, as it has nothing to do with Pompey, having been erected in 293 for Diocletian, possibly in memory of the rebellion of Domitius Domitianus.

A historical archaeological site, the Catacombs of Kom el Shoqafa lie on the western necropolis of Alexandria and consist of three levels cut through solid rock, the third level being now completely underwater. It houses a series of Alexandrian tombs, statues and archaeological objects of the Pharaonic funeral cult with Hellenistic and early Imperial Roman influences. The Catacombs were named Kom El Shoqafa, meaning Mound of Shards, because the area used to contain a mound of shards of terra cotta which mostly consisted of jars and objects made of clay belonging to those visiting the tombs, who would bring food and wine for their consumption during the visit, but didn't wish to carry them back home from this place of death so they would break them.

The Catacombs of Kom el Shoqafa is, according to some lists, also one of the seven medieval wonders of the world. One of the more gruesome features of the catacombs is the so called Hall of Caracalla. According to tradition, this is a mass burial chamber for the humans and animals massacred by order of the Emperor Caracalla.

Due to the time period, many of the features of the Catacombs of Kom el Shoqafa merge Roman, Greek and Egyptian cultural points; some statues are Egyptian in style, yet bear Roman clothes and hair style whilst other features share a similar style. A circular staircase, which was often used to transport deceased bodies down the middle of it, leads down into the tombs that were tunneled into the bedrock during the age of the Antonine emperors. The facility was then used as a burial chamber from the 2nd century to the 4th century, before being rediscovered in 1900 when a donkey accidentally fell into the access shaft. It is believed that the catacombs were only intended for a single family, but it is unclear why the site was expanded in order to house numerous other individuals.

Museum of Fine Arts features a great collection of paintings, sculptures and various artworks. A lot of interesting exhibitions by Egyptian and international artists take place here. Museum of Fine Arts is well known because of Alexandria Biennially, that showcases works from Mediterranean countries. The museum is open every day during the week, except on Fridays.

The Alexandria National Museum in Egypt was inaugurated the 31st of December, 2003 by Hosni Mubarak and it's located in a restored Italian style palace in Tariq Al-Horreya Street, near the center of the city. 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 includes works from the Hellenistic period, including pieces from Heraklion and Canopus and it also has a collection of jewelry, weapons, statuary, coins, and glassware. The museum is housed in the old Al-Saad Bassili Pasha Palace, who was one of the wealthiest wood merchants in Alexandria. Construction on the site was first undertaken in 1926.

Saint Mark's Coptic Orthodox Cathedral is the historical seat of the Pope of Alexandria, the head of the Coptic Orthodox Church. The cathedral is said to stand on the site of the church founded by Saint Mark the Evangelist in AD 60. Mark converted many to Christianity and performed many miracles, he is considered the founder of the church in Alexandria and the first Bishop of Alexandria.

In the time of Pope Yusab II, the church building was pulled down and another, larger building was built with reinforced concrete after the basilique style. The six marble pillars were transferred into the outer entrance of the church. The icon carrier was accurately cut into parts, each part given a number, and then it was cautiously returned to where it was originally. The two minarets were not pulled down as they were reinforced with concrete and were decorated with beautiful Coptic engravings. Two new bells – brought from Italy – were provided, one for each minaret. Between 1985 and 1990 the church was widened from the western side after the former style with great accuracy, keeping the two minarets in their places, so the entire area of the church was doubled. The six pillars were transferred to the new western entrance of the church supervised by Pope Shenouda III.

The Bibliotheca Alexandrina is a major library and cultural center located on the shore of the Mediterranean Sea. 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 idea of reviving the old library dates back to 1974, when a committee set up by Alexandria University selected a plot of land for its new library, between the campus and the seafront, close to where the ancient library once stood.

The Bibliotheca Alexandrina is trilingual, containing books in Arabic, English and French. In 2010, the library received a generous donation of 500,000 books from the National Library of France which makes it the sixth-largest Francophone library in the world. The main reading room stands beneath a 32-meter-high glass-paneled roof, tilted out toward the sea like a sundial, and measuring some 160 m in diameter. The walls are of gray Aswan granite, carved with characters from 120 different human scripts. The dimensions of the project are vast: the library has shelf space for eight million books, with the main reading room covering 70,000 sq.m. (750,000 sq ft) on eleven cascading levels. The complex also houses a conference center; specialized libraries for maps, multimedia, the blind and visually impaired, young people, and for children; four museums; four art galleries for temporary exhibitions; 15 permanent exhibitions; a planetarium; and a manuscript restoration laboratory. The library's architecture is equally striking.