Location: Egypt Length: 14 min
Development of the modern city of Alexandria, Egypt, has obscured traces of old Alexandria on the surface, but an ancient subterranean world of waterworks still remains to be fully explored. Visitors to the place in classical times admired the cisterns there, which are said to have numbered in the hundreds and formed a true underground city. Now, the Center for Alexandrian Studies is rediscovering the underground hydraulic network through museum research, interviews with long-time city residents and on-site salvage excavations.
Produced in 2009 by the Center for Alexandrian Studies
Copyright 2009 by the Center for Alexandrian Studies and the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS)
Directed by Raymond Collet, Center for Alexandrian Studies
Web links:
Alexandria (Wikipedia)
Center for Alexandrian Studies
The Cisterns of Alexandria from Ancient Egypt (TourEgypt.net)
Filmography for Raymond Collet
Raising Alexandria, by Andrew Lawler (Smithsonian Magazine, April 2007; Smithonian.com)