Ten Amazing Mediterranean Cities Slowly Being Lost to the Deep Blue Sea

About 50 famous historical sites from the Mediterranean will be flooded as early as the next century, scientists from Kiel University in Germany stated.

The list of endangered places included Venice, the ancient center of Rhodes, the historic center of Pisa, Medina of Tunis, Croatia's Dubrovnik, Paphos, Byblos, the old town of Corfu, Syracuse, Ravenna and many other UNESCO World Heritage sites along the coastal zone.

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High tides have flooded Venice, leading Venetians and tourists to wear high boots and use wooden walkways to cross St. Mark's Square and other areas under water. Flooding is common this time of year and Thursday's level that reached a peak of 55 inches (140 centimeters) was below the 63 inches (160 centimeters) recorded four years ago in the worst flooding in decades.

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Lindos Acropolis on Rhodes. The only visible ancient monument today is the mighty bare rock that rises from the sea at an altitude of 116 meters.

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The Leaning Tower of Pisa is one of the most iconic natural structures in the world. The Italian tower is located in the Tuscany region of Central Italy.

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The courtyard of Zitouna Mosque in the Medina of Tunis famous for its medieval Islamic architecture. The lowest part of the Medina is only 7 meters above sea level.

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Fort St. Ivana (St. John's Fortress) is located in Dubrovnik, southern Croatia on the Adriatic Sea. The city is known for its distinctive Old Town, surrounded with massive stone walls built in the 16th century.

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Paphos is a city on the southwest coast of the Mediterranean island of Cyprus. Recent studies demonstrated the high sea level rise of about 10 mm/year and tide gauge measurements show a 5 cm rise from 1977‐1991, and a further 10 cm from 1990‐2001.

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Ravenna is a city in Emilia-Romagna, Italy, known for the colorful mosaics adorning many of its central buildings.

CC BY-SA 2.0 / Romana Klee / Ravenna

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Byblos (Arabic: Jbail, bibl. Gebal) is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, which in the Phoenician period was an important export port for cedar to Egypt and an important transit port for papyrus from Egypt to the Greek world.

CC BY 2.0 / Herbert Frank / Byblos

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Syracuse is a city on the Ionian coast of Sicily, Italy known for its ancient ruins.
Piazza Duomo during the blue hour.

CC BY-SA 4.0 / Dario Giannobile / Piazza Duomo (Syracuse - Unesco World Heritage) during the blue hour (cropped photo)

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Corfu, an island off Greece’s northwest coast in the Ionian Sea, is surrounded by rugged mountains and a resort-studded shoreline.

CC BY-SA 2.0 / Kurt Bauschardt / Old Fortress Port & Moat