The great port of Alexandria was a bustling trade hub, a transit point for merchandise from throughout the ancient world — until much of it vanished into the Mediterranean Sea.

Treasure hunters have long scoured the Egyptian coast for vestiges of the port, thought to have disappeared about 13 centuries ago. Now an exhibit at Paris' Grand Palais brings together 500 ancient artifacts recovered from the area using sophisticated nuclear technology by the underwater archeologist Franck Goddio. Franck Goddio worked for more than ten years on recovering and researching “Egypt’s Sunken Treasures”.

"Egypt's Sunken Treasures" features colossuses of pink granite, a 17.6-ton slab inscribed with hieroglyphics, a phalanx of crouching sphinx, pottery, amulets and gold coins and jewelry — all painstakingly fished out of the Mediterranean. Some of the oldest artifacts are estimated to have spent 2,000 years underwater.

Opened ceremoniously by France's President Jacques Chirac and President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt at the beginning of December, the spectacular discoveries from the underwater archeological exploration off the coast of Egypt drew more than 200,000 visitors within the first month, to the Grand Palais near the Champs-Élysées.

The exhibition closes the 16th of March, so this is your last chance to see it.

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