Original subtitles

(upbeat music playing)

Three centuries after the first discoveries,

Egypt continues to fascinate us.

Every month that goes by

reveals new treasures buried under the desert sand.

The fragment nose

was found in the area during an archeological dig.

So it was stuck back on and hadn't gone far.

Temples, pyramids, necropolises

and ancient cities

are just some of the wonders that bear witness

to the splendor of past Pharaos and their heirs.

The Greeks used to make cakes called pyramis.

When they came to Egypt

they found colossal stone structures

in the shape of their cakes.

And so they gave them the same name.

This ancient civilization

which was thought to have been lost

is constantly reinventing itself

in the Egypt of the 21st century.

We are going to travel through time and space

to rediscover it.

(serene upbeat music)

Ancient Egypt gave the world

its most extraordinary monument.

It's 3,500 year long history

was brought to a brutal end

with a triumph of Christianity in the fourth century.

But this extraordinary civilization

did not disappear for all that.

In the 19th century,

when John Francois Sean Polyon

solved the mystery of ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs,

architecture, necropolises, shipbuilding

and the Coptic language of Egyptian Christians

all have their roots in this ancient history.

Modern Egypt is the daughter of ancient Egypt.

(cultural upbeat music)

The city of Cairo with its 16 million inhabitants

stretches as far as the eye can see.

In this month of June despite the sweltering heat,

the fog of pollution hanging over it,

seems less thick than usual.

It is the middle of Ramadan

and the city is operating at a slower pace.

There are just a few people out shopping for provisions,

getting what they need

for when they can break their fast at dusk.

Around 95% of Egyptians are Muslim.

Islam is everywhere.

It is part of everyday life.

Witness the crowd assembled

at the foot of the Al Hussein mosque in the city center.

Thousands of worshipers are gathered there

waiting for evening prayers.

The meals have already been dished out.

Everyone is waiting for the call from the muezzin.

Once he has said Allahu Akbar for the third time

fasting ends and iftar begins.

(people chattering) (muezzin calling)

These scenes may seem timeless,

but the Muslim religion

didn't arrive in Egypt until 648 AD.

In the grand scheme of this ancient civilization,

that's relatively recent.

Its cultural roots lie in far more ancient fertile ground.

It is a very visible heritage.

In Giza on the outskirts of Cairo,

the ancient Egyptians built

what the rest of the world still considers to be

the emblem of the city, the pyramids.

These vast dunes were built during the old kingdom

over 4,500 years ago.

They are real architectural feats.

The pyramid of Cheops is 147 meters high.

It is the highest in Egypt

and the only one of the seven wonders of the ancient world

to have withstood the test of time.

The pyramid of Khafre is almost as high.

The sites of the pyramids

has been visited by millions of tourists

since ancient times,

but also numerous heads of state.

Doa is a French speaking tour guide.

She got the chance to give François Metreon

a chac jirac, a guided tour.

Whether you are a president,

a head of state or a simple worker,

the pyramids never ceased to fascinate.

The first foreigner to visit the pyramids

and to describe them was Greek.

He is known as the father of history.

That was Herodotus in 430 BC.

The word pyramid

now used to describe these monuments

comes from the Greek word, pyramus.

The Greeks used to make cakes called pyramus.

When they came to Egypt,

they found colossal stone structures

in the shape of their cakes.

So they gave them the same name

and the pyramid shape is itself sacred

because it mimics the sun's rays,

which cover the earth in the form of a pyramid.

That's why the king

who is considered to be the incarnation of the sun on earth,

wants to be buried inside the sacred shape.

The right to be buried in a pyramid

was reserved for Pharos and their wives.

Even princes and princesses

didn't have that right.

However wealthy they were,

they were still buried at what we now call mastabas.

In Giza, the guardian of the pyramids

is just as famous as its proteges.

The Sphinx has watched over these Royal graves

for over 2,500 years.

This lion with a human head

is 74 meters long and 20 meters high.

It's a pretty dissuasive protector.

We are standing between the poles

of this famous sphinx

whose facial features are those of Khafre

who built the second pyramid.

This pink granite stele between the sphinx's paws

commemorates a dream Thutmose the fourth

had in the 16th century BC.

The Sphinx is embedded in the sand

and Thutmose was chasing desert animals.

He fell asleep in the shade of the sphinx's head

and dreamed that the sun god had appeared to him

and spoken to him saying if you get me out of the sand,

I promised you the throne.

He woke up and told the story to the priest who believed him

and started digging the sphinx out of the sand.

That's proof that the Sphinx was continually

being embedded in sand and then dug out again.

It was also dug out in the time of the Greeks

and the time of the Romans.

And when Christianity became the official religion of Egypt,

this site like any other site

became a pagan site and was completely neglected.

So the Sphinx was buried in the sand again

and that's what protected it.

The copts were the first

to stop mutilating the sphinx's face.

And then the Arabs followed suit.

There was a legend or a story,

which says that during the Mamluk Dynasty, Sa'im al-Dahr

thought the sphinx was a pagan statue.

He came and mutilated the sphinx's face

and broke its nose.

It wasn't Obelix who broke it.

(laughs)

Today, the Sphinx is still

the world's biggest sculpture

to be carved from a single block of stone.

But building the pyramids

required millions of blocks of stone.

Some came directly from the Giza plateau.

Whereas others came from a quarry

that is still visible today.

About 10 kilometers from the pyramids

on the outskirts of Cairo,

the Maqattan Hills still bear the scars

of being used as quarries by the Pharaohs.

Some stones came from much further away

thanks to a natural transport link, the Nile.

700 kilometers south of Cairo,

the city of Luxor formerly known as Thebes

in the days of the pharaohs

is also home to a gigantic monument.

Karnak temple like the pyramids

took an impressive number of stones to build.

It is the largest religious complex from antiquity

and covers a surface area of two square kilometers.

(hammer thudding)

Working alongside their Egyptian counterparts,

a team of French archeologists

are reconstructing parts of the temple

under the direction of stone cutter

and restorer, Antwan Garrick.

The statue of Tutankhamun,

has been here for about 3,500 years

and has seen better days.

It is crap, we don't know why.

And if it's missing certain elements,

no doubt after being coupled or looted,

but what remains is incredibly good condition.

The missing piece of his nose

was found nearby 10 years ago during a dig

and was stuck back on again.

Soon, we're going to take the statue down.

To replace the missing parts

that have been patched up with cement.

That was done in 1912, I think.

They used what they had at their disposal at the time.

It's a prominent statue of a famous king

in the middle of Karnak temple.

So it's an interesting project

and it's important for the history of the site

and for Egyptians that this statue is exhibited

in the best condition possible.

We are going to take the whole thing apart

to replace these two missing parts

with beautiful carved blocks of new stone

recreating the original form of the statue.

The restoration of this statute

is designed to be completely reversible

should the missing parts of Tutankhamun

happen to be found one day.

Work has already begun on the restoration

of the pharaohs torso and his left leg.

Antwan Garrett is working on a block of sandstone

that is very similar to the sort used in antiquity.

It's a soft stone.

It could be carved in ancient times

without the use of iron tools.

Iron only arrived in about 600 BC.

Before that, the sandstone could easily be carved

using wooden mallets and broze tools.

The work I'm doing obviously uses modern day tools.

We could have had fun doing it with ancient tools

but it would have taken 10 times as long.

That's known as experimental archeology.

And it's done with a specific goal in mind.

(tool scraping)

That isn't the goal of this operation.

To get the finish on the sandstone,

you can simply use another piece of sandstone.

When it's dry it works very well.

The two stones abrade one or another.

And do you get this fine dust

a very smooth finish.

As you can see, it's very effective.

I might carve the stone with modern tools,

but I finish it off with this

to give it the exact same finish

as on an ancient statue.

(serene upbeat music)

Antwon's team is working on the statues,

but it is also responsible

for restoring the walls in the secret courtyard,

in the middle of Karnak temple,

whose decorations date

from the times Thutmose III.

The team has already reconstructed the east wall.

And now they're tackling the north wall.

It's like a giant jigsaw puzzle

with blocks of stone weighing several tons.

Antwan is assisted by Mohammad,

an Egyptian stone cutter who was trained by him.

(stone scrapping)

I've been doing this job for 10 years now

and I still have a lot to learn.

I don't think I'll finish my apprenticeship

before I die even.

There is nothing nobler than working with stone.

There is so much to learn

It's humbling.

I know I'm still a beginner in this profession.

In Egypt, there've been

so many archeological discoveries

that stonecutters have several generations

worth of work ahead of them.

But some of the buildings

that seem to be completed at first sight

are actually very incomplete.

The three big pyramids are a good example.

None of them have retained their peak.

This is the pyramidian,

which is meant to go on top of the pyramid.

This block of stone is original.

It was found buried in the sand

during a dig and it is the tip of the pyramid.

On the pyramid of Khafre,

you can see a substantial part of the cladding.

It has lost its tip,

but you can still imagine what these pyramids look like

when they were complete.

They must've been beautiful and impressive.

Nowadays it's hard to imagine

the initial impact of the great pyramids.

They must have been majestic,

clad in sparkling white and perfectly smooth.

But for the past 4,500 years,

they have lost some of their splendor

like most monuments from the Pharaonic era.

Jean-François Champollion,

the great French Egyptologist

came to Egypt and around 1830.

It is estimated that 70% of what he saw

and described at the time

has now completely disappeared.

The reasons are multiple;

erosion, earthquakes, the Nile floods

and especially human intervention.

For years, the pyramid was used as a quarry.

And that's unfortunately how it lost its cladding.

The cladding disappeared

along with a large part of the base.

Mohammad Ali, King of Egypt in the 19th century

was very proud of himself

for having built a dam north of Cairo

using the cladding from these pyramids.

Successive generations

have come and helped themselves

to these Pharaonic monuments.

Even in ancient times,

some pharaohs reused the monuments of their predecessors.

Then the Greeks, Romans and Christians

also got their stone supplies

from these ancient relics, Egyptians.

The majesty of Muslim Egypt

was also built using debris

from the Pharaonic reign.

In Cairo, the founder of the Mamluk dentisty

in the 14th century had a huge tomb built.

This mausoleum might never have seen the light of day

without the involuntary help of the ancient Egyptians.

(people chattering indistinctly)

This is a blatant example

of ancient stones being reused in the Mamluk era.

You can see the sun god at the top of the cartouche.

It's not incidental,

that the cartouche is on the ground.

Coming from the pagan era,

it was put there deliberately

to be trampled over.

The ancient Egyptians

were in the habit of trampling over

anything they didn't like

placing it under foot.

Modern Egyptian people say,

I'm going to walk all over you,

meaning I'm going to flatten you.

And they flattened everything

that came from the Pharaonic era.

(muezzin calling praying)

Barquq had this mausoleum built

at the height of his reign.

The Mamluks arrived here in the 9th century AD.

Often originating from the caucuses,

these emancipated slaves were trained in the military arts

to serve Muslim sovereigns.

Under Barquq, they came to power for the second time

in the history of Egypt in 1382

and gave the country 49 sultans

until their downfall in the 19th century.

This is the mausoleum of Sultan Barquq.

The mausoleum is a rather impressive prayer room.

It was built for the sultan

and lies above a cave in which he was later buried.

Islam forbids the use of sarcophaguses and coffins

so the body was wrapped in a shroud

and placed in an underground chamber.

The monuments we see here

are just simple gravestones.

In the Pharaonic era, ancient Egyptians

had a series of underground burial chambers

built in their mastabas.

The Mamluks did the same with their mausoleums.

The mausoleum of Salton Barquq

is the biggest tomb in Cairo

covering a surface area of over 4,500 square meters.

Rather than just a simple grave,

it is a complex design to house a school

with living quarters and a place for worship.

The mosque still hosts anonymous burials

for those seeking some of the renown

of the great Mamluk Sultan.

(feet pattering) (people chattering)

When you climb to the top of the minarets,

you get an idea of the influence Barquq had

on this part of Cairo.

We are in the cemetery in Cairo.

He was among the first to build his mausoleum here.

At first, this cemetery was used to house

just the sultans mausoleums.

Then Sultan Barquq moved the donkey station

from the foot of the Citadel

to get people to come here to pray for him.

Donkeys were the only means of transport

to the people at the time.

If the main station was too far away,

people wouldn't come here.

Today, five centuries later,

because we are in the middle of the cemetery,

we can see people and tombs left, right and center.

And these are not just the sultan's tombs,

but the tombs of all the inhabitants of Cairo.

And as you can see the dead and the living

live together in harmony.

(light music playing)

(people chattering)

The cemetery surrounding

the mausoleum of Salton Barquq is vast.

It occupies a large part of Eastern Cairo.

The authorities estimate that half a million people

live in the city of the dead.

The living have adapted to this very original neighborhood.

They have no choice.

Over population and a hike and rents

has pushed many people out to the cemeteries of Cairo.

This resettlement is made easier by the fact

that the city of the dead

is laid out like a proper town

with streets, avenues, and squares.

These modern necropolises,

literally cities of the dead in Greek

are reminiscent of seen

at the foot of the pyramids of Giza

dating from around 3,500 BC.

(cultural upbeat music)

Here we are in the necropolis

behind the pyramid of Cheops.

Built for the dignitaries

who lived during his reign.

They wanted to live their second life under his reign too.

So they asked to be buried

behind their master's pyramid.

It was a town with criss-crossing streets

that were a hive of activity.

There were people coming

to present their offerings to the dead.

Then there were the stone cutters,

the builders of mastabas,

the painters, the tomb sculptors and the embalmers.

A whole population lived and worked here,

rubbing shoulders with the dead

who were already buried underground.

As well as being formidable architects,

the ancient Egyptians passed on other important legacies

to modern Egypt.

In 1950, archeologists discovered

a 150 meter long cavity

at the foot of the great pyramid.

It housed a 4,500 year old ship

carefully dismantled into 1,224 pieces

by the ancient Egyptians.

It took 10 years to put it back together again.

Today, visitors can admire Cheopes' solar ship

close to where it was discovered.

This ship is linked to the burial rights of Pharaonic Egypt.

It informs us of the sophisticated technological prowess

of Egyptians of the time of the early pharaohs.

The solar ship is 43 meters long, weighs 45 tons

and was built without the use of nails or screws.

The planks were lashed together using rope.

The water tightness of the haul

was assured by the fact

that wood expands in water and rope retracts

drawing the planks of wood tighter together.

This simple and ingenious system of shipbuilding

is what made Egypt great,

uniting this vast country

along its main transport axis, the Nile.

Traces of this shipbuilding tradition

are still evident today.

In Rosetta on the Nile Delta on the Mediterranean,

this legacy lives on.

Not a day goes by without a boat being launched.

(men shouting in foreign language)

In Rosetta, there about 35 boatyards.

It is an ancient local tradition.

We've always done it.

We don't learn how to build boats from books,

but we've all seen our parents do it.

In their day, they made small fishing boats and cargo ships.

Nowadays, the shipbuilding industry here

is more about big yachts or tourists boats.

(light music) (hammer thudding)

The shipbuilders in Rosetta

have adapted to the demand.

Most of the boats they build are made of steel,

but whenever they can,

they work with the same material

as their ancient ancestors would.

This is my wooden boat.

I'm having it built for myself

because I want to keep up the traditions.

I want people to continue using wood.

It's a material that has a soul.

I grew up with wood.

I watched my parents and grandparents use it.

I really missed it.

So I decided to have a wooden boat made.

(hammer thudding)

I dream of setting sail in this boat,

going fishing, going on trips.

Going on holiday.

God-willing it will soon be ready and then I'm off.

In the daytime during Ramadan,

the ship building activity slows down.

At night, once people have broken their fast,

Rosetta resumes its intense activity

to the rhythm of welders and shipbuilders.

But Rosetta's world renown

has nothing to do it's sailors and fishing boats.

It owes its fame to a single stele,

the Rosetta Stone which helps solve

one of archeology's greatest mysteries,

deciphering hieroglyphs.

It was found in the Citadel of Qaitbay in 1799.

Kamis has been guarding the entrance for over 25 years.

He knows every nook and cranny

and every stone of this fort.

The stronghold was where their soldiers lived

and where ammunition was stored.

But you see these Pharaonic columns

and that block of stone over there,

there are ancient relics like that all over the fort.

(upbeat music)

During his campaign in Egypt,

Napoleon made this Mamluk fortress

a vital strategic point.

It allowed him to control access to the Nile

and to stop the English from attacking.

In 1799, the French began to restore it.

They didn't expect to uncover

the key to ancient Egyptian thinking.

Production of the Rosetta stone,

the original is in the British museum in London.

It was discovered by Bouchard,

a French officer stationed in the fort

during the campaign of Egypt.

Champollion later studied it.

The stone is in three languages,

in hieroglyphics, in demotic Egyptian,

and in ancient Greece.

It was the same decree from the pharaohs

written in three different languages.

(serene music)

Jean-François Champollion

deciphered the hieroglyphs

20 years after the Rosetta stone was discovered.

To achieve this, this talented Egyptologists

relied on his knowledge of several languages.

He had no difficulty translating

the ancient Greek on the stone,

but another script caught his attention, demotic Egyptian,

a simplified written version of the hieroglyphs

for everyday use.

And that gave Sean Polyon the key he was missing.

He noticed the similarity between demotic Egyptian

and another language he could speak fluently, Coptic,

the language of Egyptian Christians.

(cultural upbeat music)

The Copts have always been present in Egypt.

There are about 7 million practicing Copts.

One of their spiritual centers is in Wadi El Natrun,

a semi-desert region about 100 kilometers south of Rosetta.

(monk praying) (people chattering)

Like every Sunday worshipers flock

to the monastery of Saint Pishoy.

They come from all over Egypt

to attend the mass held by the monks.

The women wear makeup and their Sunday best.

The monastery is a place of freedom

for this religious minority

descended from the Pharaoh subjects

in this mainly Muslim country.

(monk praying)

Sameh is a Copt.

He is also a tour guide

specializing in Egypttology.

According to him,

the ancient Egyptian civilization is not dead.

It lives on in his community.

Coptic is the liturgical language

of the Egyptian church,

and it is the most recent evolution

of the language spoken by ancient Egyptians

several thousand years ago.

For practical reasons,

they use the Greek alphabet to write down this language.

But since the Greek alphabet

doesn't cover all of the sounds of ancient Egyptian,

they added seven demotic characters

to form the Coptic alphabet.

So during mass ancient Egyptian

doesn't just live on through the language,

it also lives on in the songs

and the rhythm and the use of incense.

It gives us an idea of what the temples

of the ancient Egyptians were like.

In the land of the muezzins,

(bells ringing)

the bells ring out a different tune.

The history of Christianity

is linked to the history of Egypt.

Monks have been putting down roots

in the desert of Setes

for over 16 centuries.

At their peak there were over 60 monasteries

in the region of Wadi El Natrun.

Today, only four are still active

the largest being the monastery of St. Pishoy

founded in the 4th century AD

by the Saint of the same name.

The architecture of the monasteries

blends in with the landscape.

Everything here reflects the ruggedness of the desert,

domes to keep the air cool

and thick walls to keep out the heat.

The climate wasn't the only enemy

the monks had to contend with

judging from the monasteries high walls

and these incredible fortified dungeons

that predated fortified castles.

We are coming to the dungeon.

To reach it you must cross a drawbridge.

(wings flapping)

(door squealing)

There are dungeons like this

in all the monasteries dating from this era

designed to protect the monks

from being attacked by the Berbers

who lived in the desert around this monastery.

The fortress is several stories high.

On the ground floor

there is a well with a source of water

and the store room.

On the second floor there is a church

dedicated to the Virgin Mary.

Then there are cells and here on the terrace,

there is another church

dedicated to the Arch angel, Michael,

who protected from enemy attack.

(light music)

A divine protection,

which did not prevent some monks from being martyred.

But despite the attacks, raids

and even the oppression they were subjected to

the Coptic monks of Wadi El Natrun

never lost their faith.

That's unshakeable devotion

is still written on the walls of the chapel

in the monastery of Al Suryani

close to the monastery of Saint Pishoy.

(birds chirping)

(man speaking in foreign language)

We are in the fifth century church,

which sadly caught fire in 1998.

The carpet went up in flames and everything burned.

There was a fresco there

which was completely blackened

so a team from the French Institute

for Oriental archeology came to clean it.

While they were cleaning the fresco,

they discovered that there was a second fresco

underneath it.

They managed to lift off the 11th century fresco,

keeping it intact

and found themselves in front of this fresco

dating from the seventh century,

which depicts Jerusalem,

with the Virgin Mary sitting on a throne,

the angel Gabriel next to her

and four other characters.

Moses and Isaiah on one side

and the Ezekiel and Daniel on the other.

Each of the prophets is holding the prophecy

about the arrival of the Messiah.

(bird chirping)

Here there are other frescoes with two layers.

One dating from the seventh century

and the other from the 11th century.

On the semi-dome above me

is the 11th century layer

showing a scene from the annunciation

and a scene from the nativity.

And here are some holy horsemen

whose names we do not know.

And some holy doctors.

This is a seventh century layer.

Here you can see the various layers in the church.

There are the first, second,

third, and fourth layers.

(birds chirping)

These frescos

which have not been ravaged by time

offer visitors a rare opportunity

to admire 1,300 year old murals

in their original colors.

(birds chirping)

(speaks in foreign language)

Through here is Saint Pishoy's cave.

That's where he lived.

In the fourth century

it was common for monks

to live in small enclosed space

barely large enough to move around it.

And above this cave lies the church

which was built in the fifth century.

As you can see that's not big either.

It's about 2.5 meters by two meters.

No more than that.

And it's where Saint Pishoy came to pray.

In keeping with tradition,

he tied his head to a rock

to prevent him falling asleep

so that he could pray for as long as possible.

So this is where St. Pishoy lived

and received the monks that he taught.

Before it became prevalent

throughout Christianity,

the notion of a monastic way of life

came from this part of the world.

The most fervent early Christians

wanted to withdraw from worldly temptations.

In Egypt, they chose to settle in the deserts

where they could pray undisturbed.

Some lived in caves.

Others use the ancient tombs of the pharaohs,

in Luxor in the Theban Hills.

In the temple of Hathor

monks built a small chapel and basic cells.

On the wall of the temple,

they engraved crosses as a sign of their faith.

(ship's engine whirring)

But on the borders of the cataracts of the Nile

on the island of Philae

the presence of Copts is sadly far more visible.

In this bastion of the religion of a pharaohs,

Christians attacked what they considered to be pagan idols.

Every Egyptian god has been methodically pounded

to symbolize the victory of monotheism

over the ancient for religions.

(birds chirping) (people chattering)

Today, the monks are no longer isolated in caves

like the early hermits.

Instead, they live in communities with very strict rules.

(chatting in foreign language)

When you become a monk,

you break all your ties with the outside world.

Your friends, your family, and your former profession.

We try to form an exclusive

and special relationship with God.

This is the key to monasticism,

parting from everyone

and forming an association with a single being.

For that there are three condition.

You must live in poverty, chastity, and obedience.

Those are the three essential elements to becoming a monk.

(light music)

(people chattering)

The monastic life

is not only contemplative,

work is just as important as prayer.

The monastery of St. Pishoy houses 120 monks,

and over 400 lay workers.

The monastery is an enterprise

with just one goal, self-sufficiency.

(upbeat music)

Almost everything's grown or made on the spot,

the meals, the bread, the candles,

and especially the wine.

Because in a predominantly Muslim country

where alcohol is forbidden,

it is very difficult to buy wine.

(speaks in foreign language)

We stick a label on the bottles

with the name of the monastery

and the picture of Saint Pishoy.

This one says Wadi El Natrun Valley.

Then we just need to add the cap.

This one is a bakha altar wine,

it is not for sale.

We use it here at the monastery,

and we also give some to churches

that don't have the means to procure any.

(bottle clanking)

(light music)

In the days of the pharaohs,

wine was kept in amphora.

Even then it was labeled to indicate the vintage,

its provenance and the names of the wine grower

and cellar master.

Grapes have been grown on the banks of the Nile

for 5,000 years.

In ancient times,

wine was the preserve of an elite.

But little by little,

it became more democratic.

It remains an important element

of the ancient Egyptian religion.

It was associated with Osiris,

the god of victory over death,

because wine is a symbol of renewal

and its red color evokes blood and eternal life.

The Christians also use it

to symbolize the blood of Jesus Christ.

(light music) (birds chirping)

The great strength of the monks here today and in the past

is that they have managed to tame a hostile environment

and grow crops on the edge of the desert.

(chattering in foreign language)

I used to be an accountant.

I learned how to work in the fields

and manage workers at the monastery.

This is okra.

You can eat our vegetables safe in the knowledge.

We don't use any chemical fertilizers or pesticides.

It's what you might call organic.

I have been in a monastery for 30 odd years.

I came here in 1990.

And I didn't know anything.

I've learned all I know here and it suits me.

(bell chimes)

I love this life.

(laughs)

Living here at the monastery

of the good Lord keeps me young.

Ancient Egypt is still relevant today.

It lives on in the Coptic language,

the architecture and certain religious monuments.

The Giza pyramids are simply

the standout legacy of that time.

Modern Egypt also sees itself

as the daughter of the pharaohs.

In Cairo the Unknown Soldier Memorial

is another direct descendant of those times.

Under this pyramid,

lies one of the most important leaders

of modern Egypt, President Anwar el-Sadat,

who was assassinated in 1981.

It is a tomb fit for a man

nicknamed the Pharaoh by his opponents.

This ancient past is reemerging all over Egypt

and nowhere more so than in Alexandria.

The city was founded by Alexander the Great

on the Mediterranean coast in the 3rd century BC.

In 2002 the people of Alexandria

decides to raise from the ashes,

a monument which made this city famous over 2000 years ago.

Here we are

in front of the library of Alexandria.

This library building contains several million books

and is shaped like the sun rising above the earth.

The sun shape evokes Turah,

king and father of the gods

who lit up the world with his rays

and continues to light up the world with his knowledge.

This is a colossal project.

Every bit as big as the temples of ancient times.

An ancient Egyptian would feel right at home with the sun

the moon and the pyramids shape,

all the symbols from the past are hear today.

(serene music)

The new library in Alexandria

can only house 8 million books.

That's far fewer than the biggest library in the world

in the American Congress which houses 32 million books,

but its predecessor was one of the biggest

and most famous libraries in the ancient world.

It was a collection

of the most important scriptures of the time.

The library was finished

around the same time as the Lighthouse of Alexandria,

one of the seven wonders of the ancient world.

It was built during the third century BC

during the reign of Ptolemy III.

It wasn't just a library for preserving manuscripts.

It was also placed for study and research.

Archimedes, Euclid and the man

who calculated the earth's circumference all studied here.

Before the invention of printing

in the 15th century AD,

papyrus was rare and expensive.

To fill the shelves of the old library in Alexandria,

the powers that be had an infallible method.

They took contributions from passing travelers.

Any boat docking in Alexandria was searched

and any manuscript found

was confiscated from the passenger

and copied in the library adjoining the serapeum or temple,

so that the original

could continue to enrich the library in Alexandria.

Then the passenger took a copy.

The old library in Alexandria has gone

between 48 BC and 642 AD.

It was the victim of various fires,

looting, earthquakes, and even a tidal wave.

For 13 centuries, it was little more than a myth,

but it has been revived today in modern day Egypt.

Ancient Egypt if we look hard enough,

it's all around us in our daily lives.

This level of the library which mirrors the sun

and these well-appointed columns,

which are reminiscent of Karnak temple.

(upbeat music)

Ancient Egypt has not disappeared.

It lives on in the spirits and minds of today's Egyptians.

The gods of the pharaohs

still seem to be watching

over the inhabitants of the Nile.

(theme music)