An archaeological surprise and a journey into the past
A major archaeological achievement has been announced by a team of French archaeologists: the recovery of 22 stone blocks from the seabed of Alexandria, remnants of the legendary Lighthouse — one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. Among the finds came an unexpected discovery: an Egyptian pylon, a feature never mentioned in any description of the monument, suggesting that the lighthouse combined Greek engineering with Egyptian decorative elements.
This excavation marks a key step in Project Pharos, an international initiative coordinated by the Center for Alexandrian Studies and the French Institute of Eastern Archaeology, with support from Egypt’s Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities.
Their goal is to create a digital twin of the Lighthouse — a detailed 3D reconstruction allowing visitors to “visit” it as though it had never collapsed.
This technology will bring back to life one of the most astonishing ancient lighthouses — a 100-meter tower whose flame burned day and night for 1,600 years, guiding ships entering the port of Alexandria, then a major hub of commerce and culture in the Mediterranean. The lighthouse was built in the 3rd century BC, during the reign of Ptolemy II, and was designed by the architect Sostratos of Knidos. There, on the small island of Pharos, it stood as a symbol of power, commercial might, and — both literally and metaphorically — enlightenment, alongside the famed Library of Alexandria.
Remarkably, many of the stones from the ancient Lighthouse were reused in the 15th century to build the Qaitbay Fortress, which still stands on its original site. So when someone walks through the castle today, they are in fact touching the original stones of the Ptolemaic Lighthouse.
A team of scientists and engineers from Dassault Systèmes is now undertaking the digital scanning and reconstruction of the stones. The end result will offer not only a “digital tour” of the monument but also the chance to study ancient building techniques and the causes of its collapse after the devastating earthquakes of the 10th and 14th centuries.
As Isabelle Hairy, head of the mission, says: “Our goal is to create a digital twin of the Lighthouse so that people can visit it again, as if time had never passed.”
With this new virtual reality technology, perhaps one day the other Wonders of the Ancient World will be brought back to life as well — even the Colossus of Rhodes!
At last, the Lighthouse of Alexandria is no longer just a legend — it returns, even digitally, to remind us of the power of human imagination and creativity.
