A short article about the Alexandrian Pharos lighthouse:
"The Alexandria Lighthouse was one of the Seven Wonders of the World. The lighthouse, built in the era of Ptolemy II, survived until the Islamic conquest of Egypt. The gate to the lighthouse survived and it's going to be re-erected outside the Bibliotheca Alexandrina, after being salvaged from the Mediterranean Sea near Alexandria.
The Pharos was built of stone quarried in the Mex district of Alexandria. Marble and bronze were also used in its construction. The lighthouse consisted of 8 floors, with the upper ones getting progressively smaller. There were 300 rooms on the ground floor, where there were also four huge bronze statues of Triton, the son of Neptune (the god of the sea). The second floor was octagonal and the third round. There was also a wonderful, gigantic mirror inside the lighthouse.
According to the early Arabs, the foundations of the lighthouse were made of glass. Sostratos, the architect, chose glass after experiments with granite, gold, silver, copper and iron.
It was in AD 641 that Amr ibn el-Aas brought Islam to Egypt. However, when al-Zaher Beybars visited Alexandria in 673, he found that the upper part of the Pharos had been damaged, so he ordered it to be restored. Beybars built a mosque actually on top of the lighthouse, replacing the Dome of Ahmed ibn Toloun. But, in 702, a great earthquake destroyed many of Alexandria's buildings, including the famous Pharos."
The Pharos was built of stone quarried in the Mex district of Alexandria. Marble and bronze were also used in its construction. The lighthouse consisted of 8 floors, with the upper ones getting progressively smaller. There were 300 rooms on the ground floor, where there were also four huge bronze statues of Triton, the son of Neptune (the god of the sea). The second floor was octagonal and the third round. There was also a wonderful, gigantic mirror inside the lighthouse.
According to the early Arabs, the foundations of the lighthouse were made of glass. Sostratos, the architect, chose glass after experiments with granite, gold, silver, copper and iron.
It was in AD 641 that Amr ibn el-Aas brought Islam to Egypt. However, when al-Zaher Beybars visited Alexandria in 673, he found that the upper part of the Pharos had been damaged, so he ordered it to be restored. Beybars built a mosque actually on top of the lighthouse, replacing the Dome of Ahmed ibn Toloun. But, in 702, a great earthquake destroyed many of Alexandria's buildings, including the famous Pharos."
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