The remains of one of the seven wonders of the world have been found after being lost for more than 600 years

For decades, researchers have been scanning the Mediterranean seabed, slowly piecing together fragments of an ancient structure swallowed by the water long ago.Back in the 1990s alone, more than 3,000 submerged artifacts were documented — but none as striking as what archaeologists have just uncovered.

Why the lighthouse of Alexandria still fascinates the world

The Great Pyramid of Giza, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, the Statue of Zeus at Olympia, the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus, the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus, the Colossus of Rhodes, and the Lighthouse of Alexandria — these were the seven wonders of the ancient world.

Only the Great Pyramid still stands.

Fires, earthquakes, and time erased the rest. Among them, the Lighthouse of Alexandria — once a towering beacon of more than 100 meters (over 330 feet) — guided sailors along Egypt’s Mediterranean coast. Built in the 3rd century BCE under Ptolemy II, it survived for more than a millennium until a series of powerful earthquakes between the 13th and 14th centuries brought it down.

Some of its stones were reused to build the Qaitbay Citadel, a 15th-century fortress guarding the entrance to Alexandria’s harbor. But many of the lighthouse’s heaviest, most monumental blocks plunged into the sea — and stayed there.

Until now.

What exactly did archaeologists find underwater?

A team of archaeologists working off Egypt’s eastern harbor has identified 22 monumental stone blocks belonging to the ancient Lighthouse of Alexandria.These structures had remained hidden underwater for more than 600 years.

Among the remains are massive lintels, jambs, thresholds, and sections of the original pavement — architectural pieces weighing between 70 and 80 tons each.Experts believe these elements once formed the lighthouse’s entrance, which was designed using a blend of Egyptian and Greek techniques.

The discovery adds another crucial piece to the international PHAROS Project, a collaboration between France’s National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS), Egypt’s Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities, and the Dassault Systèmes Foundation. Their goal: to create a digital twin of the legendary structure.

How long have these ruins been known?

Although divers first spotted the underwater ruins in 1968, major archaeological work didn’t begin until the late 20th century.

In 1994, French archaeologist Jean-Yves Empereur led an exploration that documented more than 3,300 artifacts, including sphinxes, obelisks, and enormous granite blocks.

But only now — thanks to new imaging technologies — have experts been able to retrieve the lighthouse’s most monumental pieces.

The push to rebuild the lighthouse digitally

Over the last three decades, more than one hundred underwater fragments from the Lighthouse of Alexandria have been digitally scanned. Alongside this mapping effort, a multidisciplinary team of historians, archaeologists, numismatists, and architects is collecting every available description and artistic representation of the lighthouse.

Their goal is to reconstruct the iconic structure with unprecedented accuracy — making the Lighthouse of Alexandria visible again, even if only in digital form.

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