Massive blocks that were once part of the monumental gate of the Lighthouse of Alexandria, one of the Seven Ancient Wonders of the World, have been raised from the Mediterranean seabed. Twenty-two of the largest stone blocks, including door lintels, the threshold, base slabs and a pylon with a door crafted in the Ptolemaic era in ancient Egyptian style, have been lifted out of the water.
The great lighthouse was built on Pharos island in the 3rd century B.C. during the reign of Ptolemy I Philadelphus. At more than 330 feet high, it was the tallest man-made structure in the world for centuries. It stood for 1600 years, until it suffered so much damage from an earthquake in 1303 that it was abandoned and the last of its stone above-ground were reused by Sultan Al-Ashraf Sayf al-Din Qa’it Bay to build a fortress on the island.
The underwater ruins of the lighthouse were rediscovered in 1968, but were not explored until 1994. French archaeologist Jean-Yves Empereur led diving expeditions to photograph and document more than 3,300 pieces of the lighthouse, including sphinxes, obelisks, columns, arch bases and massive granite blocks weighing up to 60 tons.
Since then, 36 blocks, columns and statues have been raised and a hundred more have been digitally scanned underwater. Now a new French program, dubbed PHAROS, has begun to lift more of the colossal structural stones weighing up to 80 tons.
The goal of this exceptional and spectacular operation is to study and scan these architectural elements, adding them to a collection of over 100 blocks already digitized underwater over the past decade. After photogrammetric processing, the scanned blocks will be handed over to volunteer engineers with La Fondation Dassault Systèmes. Like pieces of a giant archaeological puzzle, each block will be analyzed and repositioned virtually. Using scientific simulations and virtual worlds, the team of engineers will test hypotheses about the lighthouse’s construction and collapse, creating a digital twin of this lost wonder. The virtual model will revive the lighthouse’s original grandeur, allowing visitors to explore it as if they were on site. […]
Funded by La Fondation Dassault Systèmes and led by Isabelle Hairy (CNRS – UMR 8167, Orient & Méditerranée), the PHAROS project brings together historians, numismatists, archaeologists, and architects to collect ancient depictions and descriptions of the lighthouse from the late fourth century BCE until its destruction in the early 15th century CE. This research helps to fill gaps left by the highly fragmented archaeological remains, as the lighthouse was quarried for building materials after it ceased operation in 1303 until the construction of the Qaitbay Fortress in 1477.
These findings complement the parameters already available for the ongoing digital reconstruction, shedding light on the lighthouse’s unique architecture—crucial since no major ancient lighthouse survives today. The Alexandria Lighthouse was the first of its kind and understanding its history offers insightful clues about how and why it collapsed.
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