Port Said is considered one of the most important cities in Egypt after Cairo and Alexandria. It is one of the coastal cities overlooking the Mediterranean Sea and is considered the entrance to the Suez Canal from the north.
History of this city:
The city of Port Said was built by Ferdinand de Lesseps after the founding of the Suez Canal to be the entrance to this canal.
When de Lesseps visited Port Said, he found nothing but a desert flooded by the water of the Mediterranean Sea at certain times of the year. So, he was forced to provide fresh water for the canal workers from Damietta Governorate. Then they dug the Al-Abbas canal, which connects the Nile River with Port Said for solving the problem of fresh water in Port Said.
The road was paved along the Suez Canal, and the first railway was established that links Port Said to the city of Ismailia.
In the year 1855 AD, the International Committee chose the name Port Said to be the name of this city, which is divided into two parts:
The first (port) because it is a coastal city.
The second (Said), the Khedive Said, ruler of Egypt at that time.
The most important tourist attractions in Port Said:
Port Said Port: The second largest port in Egypt.
The old lighthouse: Khedive Ismail built it by 1869 to lead ships passing through the Suez Canal. It is the oldest concrete lighthouse in the world. It is 56 meters high.
The Suez Canal Authority Building: It was established in 1895 and is characterized by an Islamic design. It was used as the headquarters of the Suez Canal Administration Authority and to monitor the passage of ships from/to the Suez Canal.
Obelisk of Martyrs: A memorial to the martyrs who fell in the battles of the tripartite aggression on Suez.
De Lesseps Statue Base: It was built in 1899, but the Port Said revolutionaries removed the statue from this base after their success in preventing the armies of the Triple Aggression from entering Egypt on December 23, 1956, so this day became the National Day of Port Said.
