500 Francs CFA Pharos Lighthouse of Alexandria

The Ivory Coast issued a series of world-monument coins in the late 2000s with no domestic connection to the subjects — the Pharos of Alexandria was chosen purely as a recognized icon of the ancient world. The lighthouse, built under Ptolemy II Philadelphus around 280 BC on the island of Pharos, stood roughly 100 meters tall and survived in partial form until a series of earthquakes between the 10th and 14th centuries AD reduced it to rubble. Blocks were eventually recycled into the Citadel of Qaitbay in 1480.