Fabled Lighthouse of Alexandria Rises from the Depths into a Digital Twin
After centuries shrouded in mystery beneath the Mediterranean waves, the fabled Lighthouse of Alexandria, once hailed as one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, is getting a second life. In a feat blending science, archaeology, and digital wizardry, 22 of the lighthouse’s colossal stone blocks have been hoisted from the seabed in Alexandria’s Eastern Harbour.
This massive recovery is no ordinary salvage operation. Each lintel, jamb, base slab, and threshold, some tipping the scales at 80 tonnes, is being meticulously scanned, analysed, and digitally reassembled. Spearheading the project is French archaeologist and architect Isabelle Hairy, under the aegis of the CNRS and with the support of La Fondation Dassault Systèmes.
“These are not just stones,” said Isabelle Hairy. “They are fragments of a cultural giant, and with today’s technology, we can finally start to tell its full story.”
A Mission Beyond Stone
Dubbed the “PHAROS” project, this initiative is a deep dive into history with its eyes fixed on the future. It unites an eclectic team of historians, numismatists, archaeologists, and architects, all racing to digitally reconstruct the lighthouse. Not just for posterity, but to understand how this engineering marvel endured the elements—and humanity’s hubris—for more than 1,600 years.
The process involves:
- Lifting key architectural pieces from the harbour floor
- Conducting high-resolution photogrammetry and 3D scanning
- Creating a digital twin through scientific simulation
- Hypothesis testing on structure, function, and eventual collapse
La Fondation Dassault Systèmes has gone far beyond financial sponsorship. Their engineers are contributing time and technological muscle, helping to virtually position each scanned fragment like pieces of a monumental jigsaw.
A Pioneering French-Egyptian Collaboration
The operation is a joint effort between the CNRS’s permanent base in Alexandria—the Centre d’Études Alexandrines (CEAlex)—and the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities. It’s a partnership built on decades of trust and fieldwork.
The recent lifting of the blocks marks a major milestone in a relationship that stretches back to Jean-Yves Empereur’s discovery of the lighthouse ruins in 1995. That mission also led to a ground-breaking documentary, and now, nearly 30 years on, history is repeating itself.
History in the Making
GEDEON Programmes, the French documentary powerhouse, is back in the thick of it, filming this latest chapter. Their production team, led by director Laurence Thiriat, has been on-site to capture every dramatic lift and underwater reveal. The result: a 90-minute feature set to air on France Télévisions in 2025.
“This isn’t just a documentary; it’s a resurrection,” said Thiriat. “We’re witnessing the return of a lost masterpiece.”
GEDEON is also footing the bill for the barge and crane, crucial elements for hauling the mammoth blocks from the seabed. It’s a cinematic operation with archaeological precision.
From Beacon to Blueprint
Built in the early third century BCE under the Ptolemaic dynasty, the lighthouse was more than a maritime aid. At over 100 metres tall, Pharos was the ancient world’s architectural and symbolic pinnacle—a skyscraper long before the term existed.
Its construction, a mix of Greek engineering and Egyptian artistry, embodied a cosmopolitan Alexandria. The lighthouse was not only a guide for sailors navigating treacherous waters, but a shining icon of Egypt’s influence across the Mediterranean.
It stood for over 16 centuries, enduring earthquakes and dynastic upheaval, before finally succumbing to the quake of 1303. Its stones were later quarried to build the Qaitbay Fortress in 1477, yet its legend refused to fade.
Bridging the Gaps of History
The physical remains of the lighthouse are incomplete. Time, scavengers, and earthquakes have left gaps wide enough to sail a trireme through. That’s where PHAROS shines. By collecting ancient texts, coins, artistic depictions, and structural evidence, the team is building a holistic understanding of what once stood tall on the island of Pharos.
This approach is vital. No other major lighthouse from antiquity survives. So, every digitised lintel, every piece of historical trivia, helps recreate a lost architectural language.
“We’re not just reconstructing a building,” said Thomas Faucher, Director of CEAlex. “We’re decoding an entire era.”
Empowering Education with 3D Worlds
La Fondation Dassault Systèmes has embedded this project within its larger mission: making 3D virtual worlds a tool for education and research. Through partnerships with schools, museums, and universities, the resulting digital twin of the lighthouse will be accessible to the public.
From immersive classroom experiences to museum installations, the idea is to turn students into virtual explorers of ancient marvels. It’s a bridge between past and future, designed to ignite curiosity and careers in science and engineering.
Media and Global Support
The initiative has caught the eye of global broadcasters. France Télévisions, a founding member of the Global Doc coalition, is throwing its weight behind the upcoming documentary. Through its Science Grand Format series, it aims to spotlight the lighthouse’s revival alongside other monumental scientific stories.
“We aim to inspire viewers,” said Mathieu Vidard, host of Science Grand Format. “Projects like this bring history to life in ways books never could.”
Lighting the Way Forward
What makes this project shine isn’t just its technical ambition, or its cast of archaeologists and engineers. It’s the sheer audacity of resurrecting a marvel long thought lost to time. Piece by piece, beam by beam, the Alexandria Lighthouse is being reborn in virtual space—and perhaps, one day, in physical form.
There are even murmurs about reconstructing a life-size model, using the digital twin as a blueprint. While that’s still speculation, it shows just how far this project could go.
As the scanned blocks find their digital place, what once guided ships to safety may soon guide us through history.
