GEDEON Programmes / CEAlex
Some of the recovered blocks of the Alexandria lighthouse have a weight of 70 to 80 tons
Three decades after the waters of Alexandria Bay revealed the first submerged traces of the seventh wonder of the world, an international archaeological mission was able to extract from the bottom of the sea twenty -two from the most massive blocks of the legendary Lighthouse of Alexandria.
The operation, led by the archaeologist and architect Isabelle Hairyresearcher at the National Center for Scientific Research in France (CNRS), marks a crucial milestone in the program “PHAROS“Whose ultimate goal is to digitally reconstruct, in all its magnificence, this prodigious work of antiquity.
Among the gigantic pieces recovered, some of which with a weight of 70 to 80 tons are the Imponentes lentes and amounts that formed part of the majestic headlight gateyour threshold, and the base that supported the tower.
According to CNRS in, the mission also brought to light fragments of a so far unknown monument: A pilone with your door – a structure that combines the Egyptian style with Greek construction techniques.
The mission was a first step necessary for the next phase of the “Pharos” project: the Meticulous Study and High Precision 3D Scanning Of these twenty -two blocks, which will join the hundreds of architectural elements that, over the last ten years, have been meticulously digitized directly in their underwater environment by teams of French and Egyptian scientists.
Once the photo processing of the scanned blocks is completed, the final task of virtual reconstruction will be up to a team of volunteer engineers.
Each block and digitized fragment will have to be analyzed with the maximum scientific rigor and virtually placed in your hypothetical original position in the now missing structure.
3D reconstruction will allow scientists Test all hypotheses possible – of the construction methods used by Ptolemaic engineers in the 3rd century BC to the Causes that ended the lighthousecenturies later.
The objective of the project is Create a digital twin from Alexandria Lighthousea virtual model that will offer the unique possibility of “visiting” it as if time had never passed.
A team of historians, numbers, archaeologists and architects It is now working to systematically collect and analyze all representations and descriptions of the lighthouse that survived in ancient sources, in a temporal period of the late fourth century AC until its disappearance in the early fifteenth century.
This Investigation is essentialbecause it helps to fill gaps inherent in the extremely fragmented archaeological traces – a direct consequence of the Lighthouse has been used as a quarry for almost two centuries, since the termination of its operation in 1303, Until the construction of the Fort Qaitbayin 1477, which was built directly on its foundations and with its stones.
No other great lighthouse of antiquity survived to this day; that of Alexandria was the first, the prototype, the masterpiece who lit the way to all who followed.
This investigation promises to launch definitive light on your unique designits innovative engineering and, crucially, about the reasons that led to its final collapse after more than more than 1600 years challenging time and elements.
The remains of the Lighthouse of Alexandria were discovered largely in the late twentieth century, especially through underwater explorations started in 1994 by the French archaeologist Jean-Yves Emperor.
Erected in the early 3rd century BC under the reign of Ptolemy I Soter, this incredible tower, which was rising about 100 meters above the Mediterraneanhad the primary mission of guide the sailors to a safe havenwarning them of the dangers of a low and treacherous coast.
Your light, visible at a prodigious distance, not only saved lives but also transformed Alexandria in a cultural and commercial headlightradiating its power from the heart of the Mediterranean trade routes.
