Underwater Archaeology Exhibition at the British Museum

The British Museum will have its first major exhibition of underwater archaeology set to open in May.

The exhibition will show 300 artifacts from two of Egypt's sunken cities that have been submerged at the mouth of the Nile River for more than 1,000 years.

The six-month show will tell the remarkable story of two lost cities at the mouth of the Nile - Thonis-Heracleion and Canopus - which by the 8th-century AD had been swallowed completely by the sea.

According to the museum, the items have been unearthed off the coast of Alexandria in Egypt between 1996 and 2012.

According to a British Museum press release regarding the upcoming exhibit, it will feature a number of 'extraordinary, monumental sculptures.'

Museum guests will be greeted by a 5.4m granite statue of Hapy, a divine personification of the Nile's flood as they enter the space. Masterpieces from Egyptian museums such as the Apis bull from the Serapeum in Alexandria will be shown alongside magnificent recent finds from the sea. There is also the sculpture from Canopus representing Arsinoe II (the eldest daughter of Ptolemy I, founder of the Ptolemaic dynasty).

The exhibition will also cover the arrival of Greeks in Egypt where there will be a complete stela from Thonis-Heracleion advertises a 380BC royal decree of the Egyptian pharaoh Nectanebo I.

Sir Richard Lambert, Chairman of the British Museum, said, 'It's hugely exciting to be announcing the British Museum's first large-scale exhibition of underwater discoveries and to be welcoming these important loans to London. We are grateful for their ongoing support without which ambitious exhibitions such as these would simply not be possible.'

Franck Goddio, President of Institut Européen d'Archéologie Sous-Marine (IEASM) and exhibition co-curator said: 'My team and I, as well as the Hilti Foundation, are delighted that the exhibition with discoveries from our underwater archaeological expeditions off the coast of Egypt will be on display at the British Museum. It enables us to share with the public the results of years of work at the sunken cities and our fascination for ancient worlds and civilisations. Placing our discoveries alongside selected masterpieces from the collections of Egyptian museums, complemented by important objects from the British Museum, the exhibition presents unique insights into a fascinating period in history during which Egyptians and Greeks encountered each other on the shores of the Mediterranean.'