Egypt is
rebuilding the fabled Library of Alexandria, razed in 632 by Caliph Omar, and
by others before him. Though, the new library may be little more than a
tourist trap; for one, Alexandria is not the cultural hub it was in the times
of the ancients, and secondly, Egypt's Islamic censorship laws (which have
already banned a number of authors from the library) may impair the library's
credibility as an objective repository of learning from across the world.