_________________________________

Home - Maps - About Alexandria - History - Sights in Alexandria - New developments

_________________________________

Fort of Quaietbay - The Greco-Roman museum - The Roman Amphitheatre - Pompey's Pillar - The Mosque of Mursi Abou Al-Abas - Al-Montazah Palace and Gardens

_________________________________

In October 4th 1995, Dr. Jean-Yves Empereur and his French-Egyptian team of archaeologists, the chairman of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities, and Egypt's Minister of Culture. Their destination was the Fort of Quaietbay, a 15th century stone structure built on the site of the ancient lighthouse which had been one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. The lighthouse had occupied the very tip of the peninsula which once had been an island, and the name of which has been, since Homer's time, "Pharos". The huge tower which had stood there for so long, and which had shared with the island the name of "Pharos", had risen to a height of 400 feet. From its summit, a perpetual fire could be seen by ships seventy miles away. From the 4th Century of the Common Era (AD), when it was already seven centuries old, the Pharos began to succumb to a series of earthquakes and, bit by bit, through the next millennium, trembled, with its attendant sculptures into the Mediterranean. So Empereur and his team got many statues out of the sea such as the statue of Cleopatra which is traveling around the world and was lately in the British museum in London. Other statues and sculptures are in the Greco-Roman museum, the Roman Amphitheatre and the rest of them is underwater, so you have to dive to see them.

The statue of

Cleopatra

Pharos