One of the World’s Seven Ancient World Wonders is about to be reincarnated as Egypt’s supreme antiquities council has approved the rebuilding of the Lighthouse of Alexandria.
The Lighthouse, which was built by the Ptolemaic Kingdom in 280 BC, once stood at approximately 137 meters tall and was one of the world’s tallest man-made structures for hundreds of years.
Hundreds of years after being badly damaged by a number of earthquakes in 1323, Egypt is seeking to revive the lighthouse at it’s original location.
“Members of the Permanent Committee of the Egyptian Antiquities have approved an old project, submitted previously by the Alexandria governorate, aiming to revive the lighthouse,” Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities Dr. Mostafa Amin told Youm7, a private newspaper in Egypt.
According to Dr. Amin, the comprehensive studies and a final plan have been submitted to Alexandria’s governor for final approval.
The Lighthouse, also known as the Pharos Lighthouse, was commissioned shortly after Alexander the Great died by the first Ptolemy and completed during the reign of the second Ptolemy.
The significance of the Lighthouse is attributed to the word ‘Pharos’ becoming the etymological origin of the world ‘lighthouse’ in Greek, Persian, French, Italian, Spanish and other languages.
Despite being destroyed in 1323, remnant stones of the structure were used to build the Citadel of Qatibay in 1480, which stands in Alexandria until this day.
Along with being one of the world’s tallest structures for hundreds of years, the Lighthouse was also the third longest surviving Ancient World Wonder after the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus and the Great Pyramid of Giza.
Comments (70)
Awesome! Just make sure ISIS don’t get to knock it down.
Can Dr. Amin also help restart the “Mataha” project, to save and restore the Labyrinth at Hawara (Fayoum) whose 3,000 rooms were each adorned with splendour, were said by Herodotus to surpass the “7 Wonders”? It is also believed to be the source of the Greek myth of the labyrinth of the Minotaur. Giza, Luxor, Abu Simbel, Alexandria and Hawara: more reasons to visit Egypt and spend more time here.
.
I visited Hawara last year and had the pyramid all to myself and the remains of the labyrinth are stones strewn around at ground level. A beautiful dream, but I doubt the government will invest in anything so off the beaten track in these difficult times.