His Majesty King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia of Spain Visit the BA
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Alexandria—
His Majesty King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia of Spain, accompanied by General Adel Labib, Governor of Alexandria, visited the BA on Wednesday, 7 February 2008, as a scientific and cultural landmark not only in Egypt and the Middle East, but the entire world.
Dr. Ismail Serageldin, Director of the Library of Alexandria, accompanied the Spanish King and Queen on a tour of the Library, its affiliated exhibitions and museums, and introduced the different services offered by the BA to its members and visitors. The tour included the Manuscript and Rare Books Museum, the Digital Lab, the Antiquities Museum, the Culturama, and the Impressions of Alexandria Exhibition (Mohamed Awad’s Collection), in addition to the latest projects of the BA, especially the Digitization of Heritage and Access to Knowledge.
His Majesty King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia of Spain much admired the achievement accomplished by the BA during the past period.
At the end of the tour, the Spanish King and Queen wrote a word in the BA guestbook, and received a memorial gift from Dr. Ismail Serageldin on behalf of the BA staff.
It is worth mentioning that Queen Sofia had donated the BA a microfilm copy of the complete manuscript collection of the Escorial Monastery in Spain, which contain rare manuscripts written 1000 years ago, of which 1900 are in Arabic. The collection was catalogued by the BA Manuscript Center.