Egypt in California the Touring Exhibition You Need to Visit
Next Saturday, October 5, California’s Saint Louis will be the first of many cities to host the “Sunken Cities: The Enchanting World of Egypt” exhibition of submerged Egyptian artifacts.
The relics featured in “Sunken Cities” are not all of the Pharaonic periods alone, but some belong to the Ptolemaic and Roman times as well. Prior to boarding his flight to California, the Secretary-General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, Mostafa Waziri announced that the exhibition will include a total of 293 sunken artifacts.
Once the exhibition is concluded in Saint Louis, these priceless monuments of Egypt will then travel across the United States in a tour that will span a number of prominent American cities.
We have talked before about the underwater ancient artifacts all over Egypt. These sunken treasures are mostly found in Alexandria at prominent archaeological sites, such as Abu Qir Port, Qaitbay Castle, and the Maamora Gulf, but there are also a considerable number of artifacts hidden beneath the surface of the Nile in Aswan and near Khufu Port in Gizah.
The high number of submerged artifacts discovered in Alexandria between 1995 and 1996 encouraged the Ministry of Antiquities to open a new, select division and named it the Department of Submerged Antiquities, and the “Sunken Cities” exhibition is one of its many brainchildren.
Among other things, the department takes care of artifacts submerged under seas, lakes, and the River Nile. Such artifacts could have possibly sunk with a ship or were located in collapsed buildings, such as the remains of the Alexandria Lighthouse, which were discovered next to Qaitbay Castle or the Royal Quarter under the waters of the Eastern Harbor.
