The Grand Tour
Alexandria
"Alexandria was too much like a European city
to be novel, and we soon tired of it." Mark Twain, Innocents
Abroad, 1867
For millenia ships have made the nearly 600 mile
crossing SSE from Athens to Alexandria. Today's cruise ships regularly make the
trip while their passengers sleep overnight. As one enters the harbour of
Alexandria it looks almost as if someone staged a modern reenactment of
Nelson's
decisive defeat of Napoleon's fleet at the turn of the 19th
Century off the coast of Alexandria. Huge
abandoned commercial ships lie aground everywhere around the harbour
entrance. The harbour was once the site of one the Wonders
of the Ancient World, the Pharos Lighthouse. However, this treasure of the
ancient world was destroyed just two decades before Columbus stumbled onto the
"New World". In an effort to welcome visitors and to convince
them of the Egyptian's delight to have them, tourists arriving by cruise ship
are now greeted by a brass band, which
unfortunately plays with more enthusiasm than skill. One
hopes for a better way to begin a visit to this great and ancient city, but the
city's impressive history and historicals site are what one comes to Alexandria
for these days, anyway.
Alexandria was established in 332 B.C. by Alexander the
Great who, after losing a large proportion of his army defeating a single
Egyptian village on his march to the heart of Egypt, wisely decided to declare
himself the son of Ra and Pharaoh of both Upper and Lower Egypt without going
further. Because Alexander was a formidable enemy and because he professed a
miraculous conversion to their religion, the Egyptians adopted a pragmatic
approach to this announcement and decided to let Alexander rule Egypt. Alexander
brought in a Greek architect to design his new city, Alexandria by Egypt. The
result was a sophisticated city with a monumental library. Alexander was
clearly proud of his new city and Egyptians believe, he is buried there.
Egyptians believe they will unearth Alexander's tomb in Alexandria one day. And,
well they might. One cannot turn over a shovel of
dirt without being reminded of
the past. In many areas pottery shards lie everywhere on the ground. Not long
ago a Roman amphitheater was unearthed and today
it has been restored and put back into use. Unfortunately, two of Alexandria's
best known artifacts cannot be seen in here anymore. Cleopatra's Needles (obelisks) were
moved in the 19th Century and must now be seen in London and New York.
Alexandria has always been a cosmopolitan city though,
judging from Twain's experience, more so in the past than today. Until very
recently, French was the language of Egypt. And, the city is still home to a
large Greek population. Unlike Athens, Alexandria has not destroyed most of the
Beaux
Arts buildings which must have been sprouting up like weeds in the late
19th century. Also unlike Athens, Alexandria's avenues are wide and appropriate
to a great city. In fact, honking the car horn is illegal in Alexandria adding
some feeling of civility to the unavoidable traffic jams in this city of five
million. One Beaux Arts building almost all visitors try to see is a former
palace of King Farouk which
now houses a Jewelry Museum.
The palace interiors have been preserved and while the rooms are smaller, they
have much in common with the interiors of Whitehall.
Construction is underway on many new buildings and the Egyptians seem to be
incorporating many of the traditional motifs into the facades of these buildings
helping to insure that Alexandria maintains much of its character.
No visit to Alexandria would be complete without a
visit to the Graeco Roman Museum. The Museum is filled with thousands of Greek
and Roman artifacts which clearly document the Greek and
Roman efforts to blend their symbols with those of Egypt in the design of art
and monuments, something the Americans did
very deliberately and vigorously
themselves during the Gilded Age for the same reasons - to lay claim to all that
preceded them as progenitors to their culture and success.
Egyptians are a proud people and none more so than the
Alexandrians. New archeological discoveries are made regularly, adding to their
pride. But, while the average Egyptian sees himself first as an Egyptian and
second as an Arab, the desire of Egypt's leaders, like Nasser and Mubarek, to be
a part of and to lead, the Arab world is partly responsible for the withdrawal
of Egypt from the European community and the change in the character of its
largest cities. The government now tries to guarantee full employment for its
citizens resulting in a booming bureaucracy and, oddly enough, a healthy
delivery business. Alexandria and Cairo may be the only places in the
world where one can have a McDonald's hamburger delivered to his door.
19th
Century Photographs of Alexandria
e-mail
the Flagler Museum
For more information, please visit the following
websites.
decisive defeat of Napoleon's fleet at the turn of the 19th
Century off the coast of Alexandria. Huge
abandoned commercial ships lie aground everywhere around the harbour
entrance. The harbour was once the site of one the Wonders
of the Ancient World, the Pharos Lighthouse. However, this treasure of the
ancient world was destroyed just two decades before Columbus stumbled onto the
"New World". In an effort to welcome visitors and to convince
them of the Egyptian's delight to have them, tourists arriving by cruise ship
are now greeted by a brass band, which
unfortunately plays with more enthusiasm than skill. One
hopes for a better way to begin a visit to this great and ancient city, but the
city's impressive history and historicals site are what one comes to Alexandria
for these days, anyway.
