Lighthouse of Alexandria Blocks Raised for Digital Reconstruction

An international archaeological and technological initiative is underway to recover and digitally reconstruct elements of the Lighthouse of Alexandria, one of the ancient world’s most notable structures.

In 2025, a team led by Isabelle Hairy of France’s CNRS and the Centre d’Études Alexandrines (CEAlex) lifted 22 large stone blocks from the seabed near the original location of the lighthouse. The operation took place under the authority of Egypt’s Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities.

The recovered stones include a range of architectural features, such as monumental door lintels, jambs, threshold stones, foundation slabs, and a previously unidentified Ptolemaic-era pylon with an Egyptian-style door. These finds add to more than 100 architectural fragments that have been digitized underwater over the past ten years.

Engineers from La Fondation Dassault Systèmes are scanning the newly recovered blocks using high-resolution photogrammetry. The data collected is being processed to create a digital “twin” of the Lighthouse of Alexandria, as part of a broader effort to virtually reconstruct the ancient structure.

What the numbers show

• Each recovered block weighs between 70 and 80 tons
• Over 100 fragments have been digitized in the past decade
• The lighthouse originally stood over 100 meters tall

The PHAROS project, a Franco-Egyptian interdisciplinary initiative, combines archaeological fieldwork, historical research, and digital modeling. This approach aims to provide a detailed virtual reconstruction of the lighthouse based on the recovered and digitized elements.

The Lighthouse of Alexandria was constructed in the early third century BCE during the reign of Ptolemy II Philadelphus. It remained a prominent structure until a series of earthquakes between 956 and 1303 AD caused severe damage, and its stones were later repurposed to build the Citadel of Qaitbay in the late 15th century.

GEDEON Programmes documented the lifting operation for a 90-minute film directed by Laurence Thiriat. The documentary is scheduled to premiere on France Télévisions in 2025, providing visual coverage of the recovery and reconstruction process.

By combining archaeological recovery with digital technology, the PHAROS project is enabling a new understanding of the Lighthouse of Alexandria’s construction and history. The initiative brings together expertise from multiple disciplines to document and virtually restore a structure that has not stood for centuries.

* This article is based on publicly available information at the time of writing.