On December 17, Egypt’s Culture Minister, Farouk Hosni, and the secretary general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA), Dr. Zahi Hawass, unveil yet again an important find in Egypt’s Mediterranean coast.

The precious artifact is to be the centerpiece in the future Underwater Museum to be constructed in the Stanley area of Alexandria. The museum is set to display over 200 objects excavated from the Mediterranean over the past several years.

Media attending an international press conference at the Qait Bey Citadel on the eastern harbor in Alexandria – Egypt’s historic city on the Med will be given the first view of the relic. Both Hosni and Hawass will unveil a unique, sunken artifact from the Mediterranean’s seabed. This piece is said to be a granite pylon tower of Isis temple found beside the Cleopatra Mausoleum off the royal quarter at the eastern harbor.

The SCA had long supported a mission from the European Institute for Underwater Archaeology, which carried out the feasibility study on a construction of the first underwater museum for Egyptian antiquities on the Mediterranean coast of Alexandria.

The SCA chief said that the study was done under the supervision by UNESCO, which chose a design proposed by French architect Jacques Rougerie for the planned museum building.

Through the years, colossal statues, sunken ships, gold coins and jewelry have been discovered in Alexandria. Among the treasures also uncovered by a French marine archaeologist Frank Goddio in the submerged ancient city of Heracleion off the Egyptian coast. Goddio announced the discovery of the city itself a year ago. The archaeologist believes Heracleion, recorded as a key port at the mouth of the Nile in ancient times, was destroyed by an earthquake or similar, sudden catastrophic event. The Frenchman has been documenting and mapping the antiquities discovered by his team of divers at the site four miles from the shores of Aboukir Bay with the help of advanced electronic technology.

The Underwater Museum is set to attract tourists to the city of Anthony and Cleopatra, once fully operational.