Qaitbay Citadel and the lost lighthouse

Alexandria's lighthouse was one of the Seven Wonders of the ancient world. Built on the island of Pharos, it guided ships into the harbor for centuries. The word for lighthouse in several European languages, such as phare in French and faro in Spanish, comes from its name.

The tower is gone. What stands there now is the Citadel of Qaitbay, and the story of how one replaced the other is a good reason to visit.

The Pharos in brief

The lighthouse was raised in the early Ptolemaic period, around the third century BC. Ancient writers described it as extremely tall, with a fire at the top and mirrors or polished surfaces to help the light carry. It worked for many centuries.

Earthquakes in the Middle Ages damaged the tower repeatedly, and by the 14th century it had collapsed. Large blocks fell into the sea, where they lay for hundreds of years.

The fort that replaced it

In the 15th century the Mamluk sultan Qaitbay built a fort on the same spot to defend the harbor. Builders used stone from the fallen lighthouse, and some of those blocks are still visible in the walls. The citadel has thick walls, a central keep and a small mosque.

Your guide can show you where reused granite and carved stones appear in the masonry. It is a quiet detail that connects the two eras.

What you see today

• Outer walls and towers with views over the water
• The central keep and its rooms
• A small mosque inside the walls
• Reused ancient stone in the masonry
• Fishing boats and the Corniche curving away on both sides

Walking the walls takes about an hour. The best view looks back at the city across the Eastern Harbor, with the Corniche curving away and fishing boats at anchor.

Seeing it as part of a tour

The citadel is a stop on both our half-day and full-day private tours. On the half-day tour it comes first, then the Roman Theatre and the library. On the full-day tour it follows the Catacombs and Pompey's Pillar, and a fish lunch by the sea comes next.

A guide matters here, because the fort has few signs and the lighthouse story is easy to miss without someone to tell it. You will leave with a clear picture of what stood here, even though the tower itself is gone.

Beyond the walls

Divers and archaeologists have found large blocks, columns and statues on the seabed around the fort. Some pieces are believed to come from the lighthouse and from the royal quarter that once stood nearby. Not all of it is visible to visitors, but the story adds to what you see above water.

The harbor itself is worth a pause. Local fishermen still work there, and you can often see small boats going out. It is the same stretch of sea that ships crossed in ancient times, and it gives the fort a living setting.

After the citadel, our half-day tour continues to the Roman Theatre at Kom el-Dikka. The change from medieval fort to Roman seats in a single morning shows how many layers Alexandria has.

Come with a little imagination. The tower is gone, but standing on the walls with the sea on three sides, you can picture a bright flame above the harbor and ships steering toward it. That picture is the best souvenir of the visit.