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Launched in 2002, a mere 100 meters from where the old bibliotheca stood, the new Bibliotheca Alexandrina stands at ten stories high and contains the largest reading room in the world (the size of Grand Central Station in New York). It holds space for 8 million books and contains some of the world’s oldest literary works. The design of the bibliotheca, which overlooks the Mediterranean Sea, features a slanting discus that represents a rising sun casting the light of knowledge onto the darkness. Hieroglyphics as well as symbols and letters from every language known to man are carved onto the exterior walls.