The remains of the monumental gates of the Lighthouse of Alexandria have been recovered from the Mediterranean Sea.

Thirty years after the discovery of the Lighthouse of Alexandria , a French-Egyptian team has managed to extract 22 of the largest and heaviest blocks from what were once the doors of the legendary monument, considered one of the seven wonders of the ancient world .

Led by archaeologist and architect Isabelle Hairy of the French National Center for Scientific Research ( CNRS ), the mission has extracted lintels, pillars of the monumental gateway, the threshold, large slabs from the base, and pieces of a previously unknown monument : a pylon with an Egyptian-style gateway using Hellenistic techniques. "It's both a spectacular and scientific operation," Hairy explained in a press release.

The goal is to scan them with high precision as part of the "Pharos" program , dedicated to their digital reconstruction, which has already scanned more than 100 underwater blocks in the last decade. With support from the Dassault Systèmes Foundation, volunteer engineers will use these scans to virtually assemble the pieces to create a virtual twin of the Lighthouse of Alexandria that can be explored by visitors from around the world.

The Lighthouse of Alexandria was built in the early 3rd century BC during the reign of Ptolemy I. Standing approximately 100 meters tall, its light guided sailors through the treacherous waters of the Mediterranean. It was the first building in history to serve this function and is considered by many to be humanity's first skyscraper . After its abandonment in 1303 and the use of its stones for the construction of the Qaitbay fortress in 1477, much of the lighthouse fell into ruin.

The Pharos project seeks to fill the gaps left by centuries of looting and erosion . It brings together archaeologists, historians, architects, and numismatists who analyze ancient sources, descriptions, coins, and graphic representations of the monument from its construction to its disappearance.

The operation will be the subject of a 90-minute documentary titled "The Lighthouse of Alexandria," directed by Laurence Thiriat, which will be released this year.