ABSTRACT
The Bibliotheca project needs to be understood as part of a wider arena of revivalism that is subject to attempts at 'urban shock therapy' and met by accusations of a more cosmetic 'Las Vegasisation'. Thus the city is subject to an ongoing 'Battle for Alexandria' being fought out between the economic-commercial and cultural elites and mediated by Governorate: such tensions and clashes threaten the great gains made by the 'critical Chorus' while also acting as its source of potential empowerment. This chapter argues that trying to affect a 'popular' purchase and engagement in revivalism illustrates both the challenges and the limits of the revivalist projects cosmopolitical thesis. Contemporary Alexandrian cosmopolitanism and the theme of 'entente' reconnect with the mobilisation of the image/metaphor of Alexandria as a city haunted by the ghosts of its past. This link is made by other commentators who take revivalism as their cue to search for the more problematic spectres synonymous with Alexandria's modern cosmopolitanism-colonial era.
