Berlin is hosting an exhibition of ancient Egyptian artefacts from the sites of two lost cities found off the coast of Egypt six years ago.
Sculptures, tablets and everyday items are on display at the Egypt's Sunken Treasures exhibition at the Martin-Gropius-Bau museum. They have never been on public view before.
The cities, Heraklion and Canopus, were thriving centres of business and religion for hundreds of years before being destroyed by earthquakes and tsunamis 1,300 years ago.
The man who found it all is the French diver and archaeologist Franck Goddio, who says the pieces provide a unique insight into a vanished civilisation.
Some of the exhibits include the largest stone tablet in the world containing Egyptian and Greek texts and the largest free-standing statue of an Egyptian divinity ever found.
The cities were full of colossal statues, such as these of Egyptian god and goddess Osiris and Isis.
The cities were founded by the pharaohs and ruled by Greek kings and Roman emperors before they were destroyed.
|