The sixth wonder of the world is Alexandrian lighthouse (aka Faros lighthouse). It was built in the 3rd century BC on the Mediterranean Sea.

In Egypt, on the small island of Pharos, not far from Alexandria, there was a bay of great importance for merchant ships. It was for this reason that the need arose for the construction of the Faros lighthouse.

Hardly anyone imagined that the outstanding structure would enter. At night, flames reflected by the water surface were visible at a distance of more than 60 kilometers, allowing ships to safely pass the reefs. During the day, instead of light, a column of smoke was used, which was also visible extremely far away.

Having stood for almost 1000 years, the Lighthouse of Alexandria was seriously damaged by what happened in 796 AD. When the Arabs came to Egypt (XIV century), they decided to restore the grandiose building, reaching only 30 meters from its original height.

However, the reconstruction was not destined to be completed, and by the end of the 15th century, Kait-bey, a famous sultan, founded a fortress on the foundation of the lighthouse. By the way, it still exists.

Interesting facts about the wonder of the world Lighthouse of Alexandria

During the reign of Ptolemy II in Egypt, it was decided to build the famous lighthouse. According to the plan, the implementation of the idea was supposed to take 20 years, but all residents saw the masterpiece much earlier. The main architect and builder of this structure is Sostratus of Cnidus.

On the marble wall of the lighthouse, he carved his name, and then, applying thin plaster, wrote words glorifying Ptolemy. Naturally, after a short period of time, the plaster crumbled, and the name of an outstanding master entered the centuries. So, Sostratus completed the construction of the Pharos Lighthouse in 5 years, which, by the standards of antiquity, was generally an instant!

The lighthouse of Alexandria consisted of three towers. The first, lowest, rectangular part of the monument served technical purposes. Workers and soldiers lived there, as well as tools and equipment necessary for maintaining the lighthouse. A second, octagonal tower rose above the first part.

A ramp wound around it to carry fuel for the fire. The third tier was a majestic cylindrical building, equipped with a complex system of mirrors. It was here that a vital fire burned, spreading its light for many kilometers around.

The height of the sixth wonder of the world, the Pharos lighthouse, ranged from 120 to 140 meters. At the very top was a statue of the god of the seas, Poseidon.

Some travelers, describing the miracle that struck them, mentioned unusually arranged statues. The first one pointed with her hand at, throughout the day, and when the sun went down, the hand dropped.

The second statue sounded every hour day and night. The third constantly indicated the direction of the wind, playing the role of a weather vane.

In the 12th century AD, ships stopped using the Alexandrian bay due to the fact that it had become extremely silty. This is what caused the outstanding building to fall into complete decline. Even later, in the XIV century, due to an earthquake Wonder of the Lighthouse of Alexandria completely collapsed.

A fortress was erected in its place, which changed its appearance more than once. Now on this historical place the base of the Egyptian fleet is located and, despite various proposals, the authorities are not considering the idea of ​​restoring the lighthouse.

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Here you will learn about the only miracle of the ancient world. having a practical purpose. He allowed the ships to approach the harbor without any problems, and the observation post located at the top made it possible to notice the enemy in time. Locals claimed that the light of the Lighthouse of Alexandria burned enemy ships. If they managed to reach the shore, then the statue of Poseidon, located on the dome of the lighthouse, emitted a piercing warning cry.

Where was the Lighthouse of Alexandria

Few people don't know Where was the Lighthouse of Alexandria located? which was built on east coast small island of Pharos, located near Alexandria - the main seaport Egypt, built by Alexander the Great in 332 BC. It is also known in history as the Pharos lighthouse.

The great commander chose the place for the construction of the city very carefully: he initially planned to build a port in this region, which would be an important trade center.

It was extremely important that it be located at the intersection of both water and land routes of the three parts of the world - Africa, Europe and Asia. For the same reason, it was necessary to build at least two harbors here: one for ships arriving from mediterranean sea, and the other - for those who sailed along the Nile.

Therefore, Alexandria was not built in the Nile Delta, but a little to the side, twenty miles to the south. When choosing a place for the city, Alexander took into account the location of future harbors, paying special attention to their strengthening and protection: it was very important to do everything so that the Nile waters did not clog them with sand and silt (a dam was built specifically for this, connecting the continent with the island).

Then the height of buildings usually did not exceed three floors, because the lighthouse, about a hundred meters high, struck the imagination as local residents and guests of the city. Moreover, at the time of completion of construction turned out to be the most tall building the ancient world and remained so for a very long time.

After the death of Alexander the Great, the city came under the rule of Ptolemy I Soter - and as a result of skillful management, it turned into a successful and prosperous port city, and the construction of one of the seven wonders of the world significantly increased its wealth.

Lighthouse of Alexandria: 7 wonder of the world

The lighthouse of Alexandria made it possible for ships to sail into the port without problems, successfully bypassing pitfalls, shallows and other obstacles in the bay. Due to this, after the construction of one of the seven wonders, the volume of light trade increased dramatically.

The lighthouse also served as a guide for sailors: the landscape of the Egyptian coast is rather monotonous - mostly only lowlands and plains. Therefore, signal lights in front of the entrance to the harbor were most welcome.

A lower structure would have successfully coped with this role, so the engineers assigned another important function to the Lighthouse of Alexandria - the role of an observation post: enemies usually attacked from the sea, since the desert protected the country well from the land side.

It was also necessary to install such an observation post on the lighthouse because there were no natural hills near the city where this could be done.

Construction of the Lighthouse of Alexandria

Such a large-scale construction required huge resources, not only financial and labor, but also intellectual. Ptolemy I solved this problem quite quickly: just at that time he conquered Syria, enslaved the Jews and took them to Egypt (he later used some of them to build a lighthouse).

It was at this time (in 299 BC) that he concluded a truce with Demetrius Poliorcetes, the ruler of Macedon.

Thus, a truce, a huge amount of labor and other favorable circumstances, gave him the opportunity to begin construction of a grandiose wonder of the world (although the exact date for the start of construction work has not yet been determined, researchers are convinced that this happened somewhere between 285/299 BC).

The presence of a dam, built earlier and connecting the island with the continent, greatly facilitated the task.

The construction of the lighthouse of Alexandria was entrusted to the master Sostratus from Cnidia. Ptolemy wished that only his name was inscribed on the building, indicating that it was he who created this magnificent wonder of the world.

But Sostratus was so proud of his work that he first carved his name on the stone, then put a very thick layer of plaster on it, on which he wrote the name of the Egyptian ruler. Over time, the plaster crumbled, and the world saw the signature of the architect.

Lighthouse of Alexandria: a brief description

There is no exact information about exactly how one of the seven wonders of the world looked, but some data is still available:

From all sides it was surrounded by thick walls, and in case of a siege, supplies of water and food were stored in its dungeons;
2 The height of the ancient building ranged from 120 to 180 meters;
3 The lighthouse was built in the form of a tower and had three floors;
4 Walls ancient building were laid out of marble blocks and fastened with mortar with a small addition of lead.
5 The foundation of the structure had an almost square shape - 1.8 by 1.9 meters, and granite or limestone was used as a building material;
6 The first floor of the Lighthouse of Alexandria had a height of about 60 m, while the length of the sides was about 30 m. Outwardly, it resembled a fortress or a castle with towers installed at the corners. The roof of the first tier was flat, decorated with statues of Triton and served as the basis for the next floor. Here were located residential and utility rooms in which soldiers and workers lived, and various equipment was also stored.
7 The height of the second floor was 40 meters, it had an octagonal shape and was lined with marble slabs;
8 The third tier had a cylindrical structure, decorated with statues that acted as weathercocks. Eight columns were installed here that supported the dome;
9 On the dome, facing the sea, stood a bronze (according to other versions - gold) statue of Poseidon, the height of which exceeded seven meters;
10 Under Poseidon there was a platform on which a signal fire burned, indicating the way to the harbor at night, while during the day its function was performed by an enormous column of smoke;
11 So that the fire could be seen from a great distance, a whole system of polished metal mirrors was installed near it, reflecting and amplifying the light of the fire, which, according to contemporaries, was visible even at a distance of 60 km;

There are several versions of how the fuel was raised to the top of the lighthouse. Adherents of the first theory believe that a shaft was located between the second and third tiers, where a lifting mechanism was installed, with the help of which fuel for the fire was raised up.

As for the second, it implies that it was possible to get to the site on which the signal fire was burning by a spiral staircase along the walls of the structure, and this staircase was so gentle that loaded donkeys carrying fuel to the top of the lighthouse could easily climb to the top of the building.

Lighthouse of Alexandria: wreck

He served people for a long time - about a thousand years. Thus, he survived more than one dynasty of Egyptian rulers, saw Roman legionnaires. This did not particularly affect his fate: no matter who ruled Alexandria, everyone made sure that the unique structure stood for as long as possible - they restored the parts of the building that had collapsed due to frequent earthquakes, updated the facade, which was negatively affected by wind and salty sea water.

Time has done its job: the lighthouse stopped working in 365, when one of the strongest earthquakes in the Mediterranean Sea caused a tsunami that flooded part of the city, and the death toll of the Egyptians, according to chroniclers, exceeded 50 thousand inhabitants.

After this event, the lighthouse significantly decreased in size, but stood still for quite a long time - until the XIV century, until the next strong earthquake wiped it off the face of the earth (a hundred years later, the Sultan of Kait Bey erected a fortress on its foundation, which can still be seen today). There look the remains of the lighthouse today.

In the mid 90s. the remains of the Lighthouse of Alexandria were discovered at the bottom of the bay with the help of a satellite, and after some time, scientists, using computer modeling, were able to more or less restore the image of a unique structure.

Alexandrian lighthouse

In 285 BC. e. the island was connected to the shore by an artificial dam about 750 meters long. The construction of the lighthouse was entrusted to the famous architect Sostratus of Knidos. He enthusiastically set to work, and five years later, a three-story tower about 120 meters high was completed. The first floor in the form of a square was built of large slabs. Its walls, about 30.5 meters long, faced the four cardinal directions - north, east, south and west. The second floor was an octagonal tower lined with marble slabs and oriented in the direction of the eight main winds. The round lantern of the third floor was crowned with a dome, on which stood a seven-meter bronze statue of the god of the seas, Poseidon.

Alexandrian lighthouse.

Alexandrian lighthouse

In 332-331 years. BC. Tsar Alexander the Great founded Alexandria in the Nile Delta, which became the capital of Hellenistic Egypt. The city was remarkable in that it was built according to a single plan. The richest quarter was Bruheion - a quarter of palaces, gardens, parks and royal tombs. Here was the tomb of Alexander the Great, whose body was brought from Babylon, where he died in 323 BC. The world-famous Museyon (Temple of the Muses), a place for scientific studies and an educational refuge for scientists who worked in various branches of science, contributed a lot to the glory of Alexandria. Mouseyon became the center of scientific life in the brilliant Egyptian capital, something like an academy of sciences.

Lighthouse of Alexandria on Pharos

Mathematics and mechanics developed especially successfully in Alexandria. Here lived and worked such outstanding scientists as the mathematician Euclid, who outlined the foundations of geometry in the work "Elements", and the inventor Heron of Alexandria, who was far ahead of his time. He created a variety of automata and built a device, in fact, a real steam engine.

Sometimes the creations of scientists struck the imagination of contemporaries. One of these miracles was Alexandrian lighthouse. It was built on a rock that towered on the eastern coast of the island of Pharos. Due to shallows, pitfalls, sediments and sediments on the seabed, ships passed to the harbors of Alexandria very carefully.

Height of the Lighthouse of Alexandria

In 285 BC. e. the island was connected to the shore by an artificial dam about 750 meters long. The construction of the lighthouse was entrusted to the famous architect Sostratus of Knidos. He enthusiastically set to work, and five years later, a three-story tower about 120 meters high was completed.

• The first floor in the form of a square was built of large slabs. Its walls, about 30.5 meters long, faced the four cardinal directions - north, east, south and west.
• The second floor was an octagonal tower lined with marble slabs and oriented in the direction of the eight main winds.
• The round lantern of the third floor was crowned with a dome, on which stood a seven-meter bronze statue of the god of the seas, Poseidon.

The dome rested on eight polished granite columns. There was a lighthouse fire burning here. Its light was amplified, reflected in a system of metal mirrors. Sailors saw him from afar, 60 kilometers away. Fuel for the fire was brought up on donkeys along a gentle spiral staircase.

Some researchers believe that there was an elevator inside the building that lifted firewood and people serving Alexandrian lighthouse.

The lighthouse was also a fortress. There was a large garrison here. In the underground part of the tower in case of a siege, there was a huge cistern for drinking water. Alexandrian lighthouse It also served as an observation post - an ingenious system of mirrors made it possible to observe the sea space from the top of the tower and detect enemy ships long before they approached the city.

The octagonal tower was decorated with numerous bronze statues that served as weathervanes or equipped with various mechanisms. Travelers told miracles about the statues.

One of them seemed to always point her hand at the Sun along the entire path of its movement across the sky and lowered her hand when it set. Another beat every hour day and night. It was as if there was such a statue that pointed to the sea if an enemy fleet appeared on the horizon, and issued a warning cry when enemy ships approached the harbor.

Lighthouse of Alexandria - wonder of the world

The Faros lighthouse stood until the 14th century. By 1326, when an earthquake finally destroyed it, the height of the lighthouse was no more than 30 meters, that is, a quarter of the original height. But even in this form, this monument of ancient architecture aroused the admiration of Arab authors (in 640, Alexandria was conquered by the Arabs).

The remains of the high pedestal of the tower have survived to this day, but for architects and archaeologists they are completely unacceptable, since they turned out to be built into a medieval Arab fortress.

In ancient times, all lighthouses began to be called the word "pharos". The memory of the miracle of construction equipment has come down to us in the word "headlight".

Pharos in Alexandria - one of the structures ancient world which he mentioned in his famous list"Seven Wonders of the Ancient World" by Antipater of Sidon. The lighthouse was built at the beginning of the 3rd century BC: the construction was started by Ptolemy Soter, the ruler of Egypt, after the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC.

The scale of the projects of the lighthouse and its direct construction were impressive. Legends say that the light from it was visible from the sea for more than 50 km.

Alexandria

Pharos (as the lighthouse of Alexandria is usually called) was built on the island of the same name, located in the harbor of the future Alexandria. When Alexander the Great arrived in Egypt in 332 BC. BC, Pharos was the shrine and home of Proteus, the god of the sea. When Alexander and his troops captured Memphis (the capital ancient egypt) and won, the Egyptian people were delighted and accepted him as their pharaoh.

As Alexander and his troops explored new territory, they discovered the small fishing village of Rakotis. Its strategic location (on the coast) caught Alexander's attention and he announced that a new capital was to be built there: Alexandria.

Huge and rich, this city in the future will become a stronghold for the development of all kinds of arts and will remain remembered in world history as the place where the oldest and largest library was created.

The new coastal region was geographically stretched horizontally, like the rest of Egypt. The state did not have any landmarks that could help ships navigate the maritime space.

Thus, the decision to build a lighthouse was connected with the needs of the sailors. Later, the Lighthouse of Alexandria will perform a protective, defensive function.

lighthouse project

The lighthouse of Alexandria was designed by the Greek architect Sostratus of Cnidus. It was built of light-colored stone, which was reinforced with molten lead. This technology made it possible to protect the walls of the structure from violent sea waves.

The lighthouse consisted of three parts: the lower (square level) provided reliable support for the entire structure, an octagonal pillar rose in the middle of the lighthouse, and the upper level was a circle-shaped structure. A mirror was installed on top of the lighthouse, which reflected the light of the sun during the day, and at night a fire was lit on the lighthouse.

Although many researchers refute this myth due to technological limitations, recent experiments have shown that there really could be fires: the reflective abilities of the mirror would be enough.

Pharos in Alexandria existed unchanged until the earthquakes that occurred in 1303 and 1323. AD After natural disasters, only fragments remained from the legendary lighthouse.

In 1994, a team of archaeologists discovered the remains of the Lighthouse of Alexandria in the harbor. Building materials left over from the ruined Pharos were used in the construction of the Kite Bay fort, preserved from the 15th century. AD to this day.

Interesting facts about the Lighthouse of Alexandria

The construction of the lighthouse cost the ruler of Egypt 800 talents. In today's money, this is about three million dollars.

The height of the lighthouse was about 137 meters.

The lighthouse in Alexandria ranks third on the list of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World that have survived to this day. The first place is the Great Pyramids of Giza, the second is the mausoleum in Halicarnassus.

He repeatedly mentioned the Lighthouse of Alexandria in his writings.
Today, the lighthouse is used as a symbol on the emblem and flag of the city of Alexandria.

After the conquest of Egypt in 332 BC. Alexander the Great founded a city in the Nile Delta, named after him - Alexandria. In the reign of Ptolemy I, the city achieved wealth and prosperity, and the Alexandrian harbor became a bustling center of maritime trade. With the development of shipping, the helmsmen who brought ships with cargoes to Alexandria felt more and more acutely the need for a lighthouse that would indicate to ships a safe path through the shoals. And in the III century. BC. on the eastern tip of the island of Pharos, which lies in the sea at a distance of 7 stadia (1290 m) from Alexandria, the architect Sostratus, the son of Dexifan of Cnidus, built the famous lighthouse, which became one of the seven wonders of the Ancient World.
For the transport of building materials, the island was connected to the mainland by a dam. The work took only six years - from 285 to 279 BC. Seeing this tower suddenly grown on a deserted island, contemporaries were shocked. From the list of seven wonders of the world, "miracle No. 2" - the walls of Babylon, was immediately crossed out, and the Pharos lighthouse immediately took its place.
The hundred was completed in the late summer of 1997. In October 1998, this project received the prestigious Project of the Year award, given annually by the International Concrete Institute.

The Alexandrian poet Posidippus (c. 270 BC) in one of his epigrams sang this amazing structure:
The tower on Pharos, the salvation of the Greeks, Sostratus Deksifanov, the Architect of Cnidus, erected, O lord Proteus!
There are no island watchmen on the cliffs in Egypt, But a pier has been drawn from the Earth for anchorage of ships,
And high, cutting through the ether, the tower rises, Everywhere, for many miles, it is visible to the traveler during the day, At night, from afar, they see the sea floating all the time, The light from the great fire at the very top of the lighthouse. Per. L. Blumenau
This lighthouse remained in the days of Roman rule. According to Pliny the Elder, he shone "like a star in the darkness of night." This monumental structure had a height of at least 120 m, and its light was visible at a distance of up to 48 km.
According to Strabo, the lighthouse was built from local limestone and lined with white marble. Decorative friezes and ornaments are made of marble and bronze, columns - of granite and marble. The lighthouse, as it were, grew out of the center of a spacious courtyard, surrounded by a powerful fence, at the corners of which powerful bastions rose, reminiscent of the pylons of ancient Egyptian temples. D them, as well as along the entire wall, numerous loopholes were cut.
The lighthouse itself consisted of three tiers. The first, square in plan (30.5 × 30.5 m), oriented to the cardinal points and lined with squares of white marble, had a height of 60 m. Monumental statues depicting tritons were installed in its corners. Inside the first tier, rooms for workers and guards were located at different levels. There were also pantries where fuel and food were stored. On one of the side facades one could read the Greek inscription: “To the Savior Gods - to save the sailors”, where the gods meant the king of Egypt Ptolemy I and his wife Berenice.

The smaller octagonal middle tier was also lined with marble slabs. Eight of its faces were deployed in the directions of the prevailing winds in these places. At the top around the perimeter were numerous bronze statues; some of them could serve as weathercocks indicating the direction of the wind. A legend has been preserved that one of the figures followed the movement of the sun with an outstretched hand and lowered its hand only after it had set.
The upper tier had the shape of a cylinder and served as a lantern. It was surrounded by eight polished granite columns and crowned with a cone-shaped dome crowned with a 7-meter bronze statue of Isis-Faria, the patroness of seafarers. However, some researchers believe that there was a statue of the sea god Poseidon.
Light signaling was carried out using a powerful lamp placed at the focus of concave metal mirrors. It is believed that the fuel was delivered to the top by lifting mechanisms installed inside the tower - in the middle of the lighthouse there was a shaft leading from the lower rooms up to the lighting system. According to another version, fuel was brought along a spiral ramp on carts pulled by horses or mules.

In the underground part of the lighthouse there was a storage of drinking water for the military garrison located on the island: both under the Ptolemies and under the Romans, the lighthouse simultaneously served as a fortress that prevented enemy ships from entering the main port of Alexandria.
It is believed that the upper part of the lighthouse (cylindrical, with a dome and a statue) collapsed in the 2nd century, but as early as 641 the lighthouse was in operation. In the XIV century. earthquake finally destroyed this masterpiece ancient architecture and construction equipment. A hundred years later, the Egyptian Sultan Kait Bey ordered to build a fort on the remains of the foundation of the lighthouse, named after its creator. Today, we can judge the external appearance of the lighthouse only by its images on the coins of the Roman period and a few fragments of granite and marble columns.
In 1996, underwater archaeologists led by the famous French scientist Jean-Yves Emperer, founder of the Center for the Study of Alexandria, managed to find seabed remains of lighthouse structures that collapsed into the sea as a result of an earthquake. This generated a lot of interest all over the world. In 2001, the Belgian government even took the initiative to recreate the Faros lighthouse on the same spot where it was built 2200 years ago. However, now the walls of the Qait Bay fortress still rise here, and the Egyptian government is in no hurry to agree to its demolition.