Marble Arch (Libya)

German tanks parade through the Marble Arch, March 1941.

Location of the Marble Arch on the map.

The Marble Arch (Italian: Arco dei Fileni), formerly known in Libya as El Gaus (i.e. The Arch), was a monument in Libya built during the days of Italian colonization. It was located on the Libyan Coastal Highway between Ras Lanuf and El Agheila and marked the border between Tripolitania and Cyrenaica.

The arch was designed by the architecht Florestano Di Fausto after a request by the Italian Governor-General Italo Balbo, who was in office from 3 November 1933 until his death on 28 June 1940. It was unveiled on March 16, 1937.

The monumental arch was named after the legendary Philaenus brothers of Carthage.

It was 31 metres high, the opening was at 15.75 metres high and 6.5 m wide.

There was an inscription at the top of the structure which read: Alme Sol, possis nihil urbe Roma visere maius (Latin for "Oh kind Sun, may you never look upon a city greater than Rome"). It was demolished in the 1970s by the new revolutionary regime in Libya headed by Muammar Gaddafi

Remains of the two large bronze statues of the Philene brothers and parts of the marble reliefs are in a small museum in Medinat Sultan, around 50 km from Sirte.

References

• Philip Kenrick. Tripolitania: Libya Archaeological Guides. Silphium Press, London, 2009. 224 pages. pp. 152-157.
• The Conquest of North Africa 1940 to 1943 at Google Books
• Libya handbook: the travel guide at Google Books
• Combat reporter: Don Whitehead's World War II diary and memoirs at Google Books

External links

Media related to Marble Arch (Libya) at Wikimedia Commons

• World war II talk about the Marble Arch
• L'arco dei Fileni de Mussolini (in French)
• Close-up photo taken in the 1940's