The Tours Guide Desk is located in the Foyer of the Library of Alexandria. Tours are being offered in the following languages: Arabic, English, French, Italian, and Spanish.

During the tour, visitors are introduced to the historical background of the Ancient Library, the efforts made to build the New Library, the significance and concept behind this dazzling building as well as other information about the different sections of the Library of Alexandria.

The receptionists are responsible for prior reservation for individuals and groups, either by phone (+(203) 4839999, Ext.: 1573, 1574), fax (+(203) 4820458), e-mail (visits@bibalex.org) or personal contact.

N.B. the entrance tickets include guided tours & exhibitions.

1- School Visits

The BA welcomes pre-scheduled school groups. Reservations should be made at least 5 days in advance. School tours are available according to the following schedule:

 

Sunday through Thursday	9:00 am - 10:30 am
Friday	1:30 pm – 2:30 pm
Saturday	11:00 am – 2:30 pm

2- Public Tours (Families & Individuals) & Different Groups

The Visits Department provides guided tours every 15 minutes in different languages: Arabic, English, French, Italian, Spanish (according to the tour schedule below).

Tours for groups from universities, companies and travel agencies can be provided, upon immediate  request during the regular working hours, but it is recommended to reserve the tour two days in advance.

Tour Schedule

Arabic	English	French	Italian	Spanish
11:15 am	11:15 am	11:30 am	11:30 am	12:00 pm
11:45 am	12:00 pm	12:15 pm	12:30 pm	1:00 pm
12:30 pm	12:45 pm	1:00 pm	1:30 pm	2:00 pm
1:15 pm	1:30 pm	1:45 pm	3:00 pm	3:00 pm
2:00 pm	2:15 pm	2:30 pm
2:45 pm	3:00 pm	3:15 pm
3:30 pm	3:45 pm	4:00 pm
4:15 pm	4:30 pm	4:45 pm
5:00 pm	5:15 pm	5:30 pm

Guided Tours (Regular Tour)

The Visits Department consists of guides who have received intensive training to lead an entertaining, and an enlightening tour for the visitors.

1. The tour begins at Demetrius of  Phaleron Statue at the Library entrance. The guide starts by explaining to the guests the historical background of the Ancient Library and how it disappeared.
2. The guide then describes how the revival of the project was launched, the phases of construction, and the description of the Library building externally. The group moves inside the Library to the glass triangle known as "Callimachus Triangle" to see an overwhelming view of the Reading Hall while the guide explains everything about the Library and its components.
3. The guide then highlights some ICT projects of the Library, including "The Digitization of the Description of Egypt", "Nasser's Archive" and "L'Art Arabe".
4. The tour then reaches the Exhibition Halls on B1 to visit some of the permanent Exhibitions. Our guides carefully highlights the masterpieces found in these exhibitions.

3- Special Tours

• A new category of tours is offered for the visitors named Special Tour, which includes a more elaborate description of the following:


• Introduction
• Callimachus
• ICT demo
• Internet archive
• Espresso Book machine
• Permanent exhibitions (Arabic Calligraphy, The History of Printing, The World of Shadi Abdel Salam, Impressions ofAlexandria: The Awad's Collection, Arab-Muslim Medieval Instruments of Astronomy and Science, Abdel Salam Eid, Mohie El Din Hussein: A Creative Journey, The Artist's Book, and Raaya El-Nimr and Abdel-Ghani Abou El-Enein)
• Conference Center halls
• Culturama

The duration of the tour is about one hour and 15 minutes. It is offered daily except Friday and Saturday, in Arabic, English and French languages, as per the following schedule:

Arabic:	11:15am	1:45pm	2:45pm
English:	12:45pm
French:	1:00pm

Please note that:

• The duration of the regular tour is between 30-45 minutes.
• On Fridays and Saturdays, prior reservation is highly recommended, taking into consideration that on Fridays the first tour in English begins at 3:00 pm, the French tour at 3:15 pm, and the Arabic tour at 3:30 pm.
• Prior reservation is highly recommended for Italian and Spanish tours, taking into consideration that there is no Italian and Spanish tours offered on Fridays and Saturdays.
• Children under 6 years are not allowed in the Library, except for the Antiquities Museum, the Book Shop, and Day Care.
• Ages 6 – 16 years are not permitted inside the Library's Main Reading Hall unless they join guided tours.
• Neither the external tour guides nor the tour leaders of the travel agencies are allowed to explain inside the library, since the Library has its own guides who speak the different languages.
• Photographs are allowed within the Library except the exhibitions (Impressions of Alexandria and the World of Shady Abd El Salam).