St. Corban's B.N.S.
The Lighthouse of Alexandria, Egypt.Alexandria is in Egypt and was founded in 332BC by Alexander the Great on a little island or isthmus on Pharos.The Lighthouse of Alexandria was the one of the seventh wonders of the world and for centuries it was one of the tallest man made structures of the world. It was 100 hundred metres in height. It was constructed in the 3rd century BC. After Alexander the Great died, the first Ptolemy announced himself king in 305 BC, and commissioned its construction shortly after. The building was finished during the reign of his son, and took twelve years to complete at a total cost of 800?talents of silver.The lighthouse was constructed from large blocks of light-colored stone. The tower was made up of three tapering tiers: a lower square section with a central core; a middle octagonal section; and, at the top, a circular section.The lighthouse was used to help sailors into the harbour and is the only wonder of the world that did that. The lighthouse was severely damaged by three earthquakes between AD 956 and 1323 and became an abandoned ruin. It was the third longest surviving ancient wonder surviving in part until AD 1480, when the last of its remnant stones were used to build the Citadel of Qaitbay when the then-Sultan of Egypt Qaitbay, built a medieval fort on the larger platform of the lighthouse site using some of the fallen stone.In 1968, the lighthouse was rediscovered. UNESCO sponsored an expedition to send a team of marine archaeologists, led by Honor Frost, to the site. The existence of ruins representing part of the lighthouse were confirmed.French archaeologists re-discovered the physical remains of the lighthouse in late 1994 on the floor of Alexandria's Eastern Harbour. The cinematographer Asma el-Bakri used a 35?mm camera to capture the first underwater pictures of the scattered remains of collapsed columns and statues. The most significant findings consisted of blocks of granite 49–60 tonnes in mass often broken into multiple pieces, 30 sphinxes, 5 obelisks and columns with carvings dating back Ramses II (1279–1213 BC). The cataloging of over 3,300 pieces was completed by Empereur and his team at the end of 1995 using a combination of photography and mapping. Thirty-six pieces of Empereur's granite blocks and other discoveries have been restored and are currently on display in Alexandria museumsIt is possible to go diving and see the ruins but only with the permission of the Egyptian Government.Today the lighthouse remains a civic symbol of the city of Alexandria and of the Alexandria Governorate A stylised representation of the lighthouse appears on the flag and seal of the Governorate and on many public services of the city, including the seal of Alexandria University.The secretariat of the UNESCO Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage is currently working with the Government of Egypt on an initiative to add the Bay of Alexandria (including the remains of the lighthouse) to a World Heritage List of submerged cultural sites. ................
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