منارة الإسكندرية

The Lighthouse of Alexandria rises in memory above Alexandria’s harbor, where the Mediterranean meets Egypt’s northern coast. Its tower once stood more than a hundred metres high. A bright flame reflected through bronze mirrors sent a steady beam across the water, guiding ships and marking the city’s connection with distant shores. Ptolemy I commissioned the structure, while the Greek architect Sostratus of Cnidus shaped its Egyptian solidity through Greek geometry.

Earthquakes eventually brought the lighthouse down, leaving stones scattered between the sea and a nearby fortress. Some masonry later became part of that fortress, while other fragments remained beneath the water for centuries. Twenty-two massive blocks now rest above the seabed, each weighing as much as eighty tonnes and awaiting digital scanning for a virtual reconstruction. The same waves that hid those stones now reveal a tangible trace of the Pharos, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.