Egypt lifts from the sea part of a temple pillar thought to be from Cleopatra’s sunken palace

The nine-ton stone, said to be from a temple to the
goddess Isis, was lifted by crane out of the waters that
have covered the palace for centuries.
It was cut from a slab of red granite quarried in Aswan,
some 1,100km (700 miles) to the south, officials say.
There are plans to exhibit it in a new museum in
Alexandria devoted only to the sunken city.
“This is one of the most important archaeological finds
in Alexandria, among the 400 items recovered by the
Greek archaeological team that has been engaged
in underwater research since 1998,” Egyptian Culture
Minister Farouq Hosni said at the scene.
The block is the first major artefact extracted from the
harbour since 2002, when authorities banned further
removal of major objects from the sea for fear it would
damage them.To retrieve it, divers had to spend weeks cleaning it
from mud and scum before dragging it across the sea
floor for three days to bring it closer to the harbour’s
edge.A lorry stood by to ferry the block to a freshwater tank
where it will lie for six months until all the salt, which
acts as a preservative underwater but damages it
once exposed, is dissolved. Zahi Hawas, Egypt’s top archaeologist said the block was unique.“We believe it was part of the complex surrounding Cleopatra’s palace,” he was quoted by The
Associated Press as saying as he watched the block
being brought ashore. “This is an important part of Alexandria’s history and it brings us closer to knowing more about the ancient
city.”