A new library has risen on the site where the legendary ancient Alexandria library is believed to have stood.

The Bibliotheca Alexandrina is the revival of the library that was for several centuries the cultural centre of the Western world. It was built by the heirs of Alexander the Great some 2,400 years ago and burned. Euclid and Archimedes studied there, as did Erastosthenes, who first calculated the diameter of the earth. At its peak it contained 700,000 volumes  including the lost works of Homer and the library of Aristotle.

The new Bibliotheca has long been a dream of Egypt. Working closely with Unesco, Egypt began in 1989 to initiate the recreation of the Alexandria library.

The new library took some 12 years to build and cost $220million - half spent by Egypt, half by other nations.

Snohetta, whose design for the Bibliotheca was chosen in a competition from among some 500 entries, was the lead architect and responsible for landscape and interior design. Hamza Associates participated with Snohetta in preparing the detailed architectural design for the Bibliotheca.

Hamza Associates was also responsible for all geotechnical, civil, and structural engineering, tender evaluations, and supervised construction of the library complex.

Described as "classic " and "timeless", Snohetta's winning design reflected the circular shape of the harbour and evoked the ancient Egyptian worship of the sun god Ra.

The complex includes the main library building, a spherical planetarium, a ground plaza, a science museum, and a footbridge. The most prominent characteristic of the library is its circular, tilting form, which rises from the ground to reveal massive stone walls carved with alphabetic inscriptions from world over. A light roof that opens towards the Mediterranean Sea covers the structure, says Dr Mamdouh Hamza, chairman of the Hamza Associates.

The main building consists of four basement levels 18 m below ground and seven floors 33 m above ground. The diameter of the visible structure is 160 m.

The built-up area of the library buildings is 74,000 sq m while that of the museum and planetarium is 4,210 sq m. The library contains the world's largest open reading room, with a floor area of 12,000 sq m that can accommodate 2,000 readers. The library complex is designed for at least 200 years structural life.