UNESCO assists underwater museum project in Alexandria

• © UNESCO/E. Trainito
• III century wreck, Italy

UNESCO has established an International Scientific Advisory Committee to help lay the ground for an innovative underwater museum in the Bay of Alexandria, Egypt, where major archaeological remains are to be found, including Cleopatra’s Palace and the fabled Alexandria Lighthouse, or Pharos. The Committee is expected to start preparatory work by November 2008.

According to the preliminary plan, the new museum, the first of its kind, is to be built partly above and partly under the water. The submerged part of the complex will enable visitors to see archaeological remains on the seabed, representing an important advance in the development of underwater cultural heritage exhibitions in situ. Other artefacts recovered from the Bay of Alexandria and adjacent sites will be presented to the public in exhibition spaces above water. Adjacent archaeological sites include Abukir Bay, where the vestiges of the sunken cities of Canopus and Herakleion are to be found.

The Government of Egypt’s plan to build an underwater museum in the Bay of Alexandria comes amidst growing recognition of the importance of underwater cultural heritage. Eighteen countries have now ratified the UNESCO Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage, which will enter into force shortly, three months after its ratification by the 20th State.

The Director-General of UNESCO, Koïchiro Matsuura, welcomed this initiative: “This project will certainly enhance appreciation of underwater cultural heritage and raise awareness of the urgent need to protect it from looting. Until UNESCO’s Underwater Cultural Heritage Convention enters into force, there is no specific international law that can protect it against treasure hunters. I truly hope the convention will enter into force in the coming months.”

Underwater cultural heritage preservation is also the subject of a short new documentary film, produced by UNESCO’s Culture Sector. The film, focusing on UNESCO’s Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage, highlights the importance of saving submerged cultural property which has become increasingly vulnerable to pillaging with the development of more sophisticated and affordable diving equipment.

The film, whose spectacular footage includes images from the sea off Alexandria, stresses the advantages of research and preservation of submerged archaeological sites in situ, which is also one of the objectives of the Egyptian museum project.

Watch the film

• Author(s):Press Release n°2008-76
• Source:UNESCOPRESS
• 04-09-2008