Digital Reconstruction of the Vanished Pharos of Alexandria
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Alexandria — Alex-Med is a late-comer of a consortium of European and Mediterranean partners within the framework of the Strabon Program. The Program objective is to build a web portal which aims to raise awareness and share the cultural heritage of the countries surrounding the Mediterranean basin. As the Bibliotheca Alexandrina is already present in Strabon through CULTNAT, they will share one server along with Alex-Med that will be based at the premises of the former.
The contribution of Alex-Med will be present in the heritage of Alexandria on the Strabon portal through the following projects:
The digital reconstruction of the Pharos Lighthouse;
The Ottoman mosques of Alexandria;
A digital 3D model of the Qait Bey Fort.
The Alex-Med Strabon team received training on the structuring of data and adapting its format for the Internet. Another element of training will be that which the Heritage Unit will receive by MAP on the high-tech heritage recording methods such as photgrammetry and 3D scanning. This training will occur during the actual documentation and making of the 3D model for the Qait Bey Citadel. The vanished Pharos, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, has intrigued scholars, architects and scientists who only have descriptions of the marvel but no accurate image. Alex-Med is working on a 3D digital reconstruction of the Pharos lighthouse, using these descriptions and is also trying to reconstruct how it fell. With the computer technology available today, it is possible to reconstruct a virtual model of the lighthouse, visulaize existing hypotheses/theories regarding its initial design, and investigate certain issues. The scenario of the reconstruction will touch on questions such as:
A seismic study from a structural engineering point of view of the collapse of the Pharos;
How was the lighthouse lit?
How do the underwater archeological pieces in the site relate to the lighthouse?
The output will be in the format of a CD and it will also be uploaded on the Internet on the Strabon portal. Digital reconstructions are also taking place of the Serapeum and the Kom el Dikka area.