“Discover History”: The First Story for Children Published by the Bibliotheca Alexandrina
13 June 2010
The Bibliotheca Alexandria presents the debut of its publications for children; a 31-page story entitled “Discover History”, in both Arabic and English. The story begins with a foreword by HE Mrs. Suzanne Mubarak, and an introduction by Dr. Ismail Serageldin on the role of libraries and museums in preserving human heritage.
The story is authored by Mona Serry; Director of the Antiquities Museum at the Bibliotheca Alexandrina (BA), prepared by Galal Refay and Nevine Roushdy, and illustrated by Mohamed Khamis, with the artistic direction of Hany Saber. This publication comes as a consolidation of the enlightening role played by the BA in disseminating culture and knowledge awareness within society.
The story presents a voyage through the Antiquities Museum that tracks the historical sequence of the civilizations that settled and lived long ago in Egypt; where the first steps of civilization in history took place. The voyage is manifested within the dialogue that takes place between the characters, the most important of whom is “Omar”; the older brother who takes up reading as a way to knowledge, unlike his younger brother “Khaled”, who cannot follow suit, but is nevertheless affected by his older brother’s interests. The story starts with a dialogue between the father and his two sons conveying a promise to visit the Museum, which encompasses pieces of the sunken artifacts that were retrieved from the bottom of the sea in Alexandria, in addition to artifacts pertaining to different eras that take the visitor on a short voyage along the ages.
In Alexandria, the two boys meet one of their friends; “Ayman”. Together they begin their tour of the Antiquities Museum, starting with the ancient Egyptian civilization section, followed by the Greco-Roman section, then the Byzantine and Islamic sections, in addition to the Sunken Treasures collection. Finally, the Museum exhibits the most important collection which was one of the main reasons for establishing an antiquities museum in the center of Alexandria; namely the artifacts that were discovered when laying the foundations of the Bibliotheca Alexandrina. The contents of the Museum are revealed through the imaginary dialogue between some of the characters represented by the artifacts on one hand and the children on the other.