Alexandria

Alexandria was a city on the coast of Egypt, which was famously home to the Library of Alexandria. (AUDIO: The Library of Alexandria)

History
Alexandria was built by Alexander the Great. Ptolemy Lagus thought it one of his most brilliant creations. After the death of Alexander, Ptolemy planned to return to Alexandria, intending to also build the largest library in the world in Alexander's honour. (AUDIO: Farewell, Great Macedon)

In 331 and 322 BC, the First Doctor, Ian Chesterton and Barbara Wright visited the city. (PROSE: The Book of Shadows)

Also during the reign of Ptolemy I, Astrolabus helped build a lighthouse in the city, taking fire from the Sun and stars to do so. Spacecraft came from space to the city, and it became a crossroads in time and space for such visitors. They sought Voyager's star charts, but adepts in sorcery called upon chthonic winds and fled with the charts. With the city's fall and the conjunction of Mars, Jupiter and Saturn, creatures from the depths of the sea, including the Kraken, rose and destroyed what remained of Alexandria. (COMIC: Voyager)

In 48 BC, the Fourth Doctor took Sharon Davies to the city on what she termed "a study break". (AUDIO: Doctor Who and the Star Beast)

In the 4th century AD, the city was a hotbed of politico-religious intrigue. Two schools of thought — one represented by Alexander of Alexandria and the other by Arius — struggled for predominance in the Christian church. The row became so fractious that the Roman Emperor Constantine had to step in and call a Council at Nicaea to settle things and restore order to the church and the empire. At issue was the question of whether Jesus Christ was literally created by God, or whether, as part of a Holy Trinity, the two were aspects of the same entity. Alexandria and its place in the debate were so well known that even common folk in Nicaea knew of it. (AUDIO: The Council of Nicaea)

By the early 5th century, the city was under occupation, at least according to Hypatia. the First Doctor, Susan, Ian and Barbara spent a few weeks in the city. During their time, the Doctor, Susan and Barbara spent their time seeing plays, including those by Sophocles. Meanwhile, Ian spent a large part of his time in the Library of Alexandria, sometimes in the company of the mathematician Hypatia. At the culmination of their visit, the Mim arrived at the city to retrieve a book they had left behind. In order to prevent the knowledge held in this book from influencing human history, they opted to destroy the great library. (AUDIO: The Library of Alexandria)

Undated accounts
The Doctor had a bit of a chequered history with that library. On one occasion, the Fourth Doctor was forcibly ejected from after shelving the Dead Sea Scrolls improperly. (PROSE: Eye of Heaven)

On another, the Seventh Doctor saved two Aristophanes plays from the burning of the library. (PROSE: Timewyrm: Apocalypse)