Mediterranean Searched for One of Seven Wonders of Ancient World

In a race against time, a team of Egyptian and French divers is searching the blue-green waters of the Mediterranean for the remains of the Pharos lighthouse, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world.

At stake is an offshore grave for the remnants of Greek temples, statues and possibly the lighthouse, which was built more than 2,200 years ago.

The government says it may soon blanket that patch of sea with a barrier of concrete blocks to protect a 15th-Century Mameluke fort that stands where the lighthouse once did. It has given the team until fall to conduct its search.

“It is a challenge for survival between the Greco-Roman antiquities and the Mameluke citadel,” said Jean-Yves Empereur, director of the French Center of Alexandrian Studies, who heads the expedition of 20 French and 10 Egyptian divers.

Their goal is to map a 24,000-square-yard area off Egypt’s second-largest city, which was founded by Alexander the Great. Underwater is a plethora of ruins, some of which the expedition hopes to salvage.

Among the remnants may be the lighthouse, built in 279 BC during the reign of Ptolemy II.

The white marble building stood 400 feet high in a colonnaded court and was equipped with a hydraulic machine to raise fuel to the roof. Its lantern, probably magnified by a reflecting device, could be seen for 34 miles.

For 1,400 years, the lighthouse served as the symbol of Alexandria and a beacon for ships until devastating earthquakes in 1100 and 1307 brought it tumbling down.

In 1479, a Mameluke ruler built the Qait Bay fort on the lighthouse site on the Pharos peninsula. The citadel, with its high walls and turrets, still stands and underwent extensive renovation in the 1980s.

The divers, financed by private funds and French government contributions, started last fall and resumed their work May 14 after a six-month break. The expedition will cost $500,000.

“We are making an identification of the blocks, studying the inscriptions and choosing some to be taken out,” said Jean-Pierre Cortegiani, a member of the expedition. “We can’t take all the blocks out. But maybe we can have something like an underwater archeological park.”

The threat to their work comes from the government’s effort to preserve the Mameluke citadel. Fearing damage from winter storms, the government started sinking huge concrete blocks in 1993 as a protective barrier around the fort.

After an outcry from archeologists, the project was suspended to allow the diving team to search the seabed, but the government gave them only until the fall.

What they have already found amazed them. Just 20 feet to 26 feet under the water were hundreds of blocks, ranging from three tons to 70 tons, pieces of temples and statues. All dated to the Ptolemaic period. Their shadows can be seen from the citadel.

Among the stones were pieces of ancient columns, many inscribed, and huge granite and marble statues of sphinxes and Egyptian deities, some of which stood 43 feet tall.

What also caught the divers’ attention were at least three layers of uninscribed blocks. It is these blocks, some as heavy as 70 tons, that are believed to have been part of the lighthouse.

“It is certainly possible that some of the pieces are from the lighthouse itself,” Cortegiani said.

So far, the divers have chosen 30 pieces but nothing is expected to be taken from the water until the fall. When they are removed, the pieces have to be treated for their exposure to the corrosive salt or they will likely crumble once they dry.

The fate of the submerged antiquities remains unclear.

“Maybe we can build another wall outside the range of the remains,” Empereur said. “But that will be very expensive.”