The idea of an exhibition was born in 2007, with the International Association to Save Tyre's initiative at the Institut du Monde Arabe in Paris: The Phoenicians and the Mediterranean, from Carthage to Tyre!

The six month long exhibition exposed the Phoenicians' expansive culture that led them to establish cities and colonies throughout the Mediterranean. These excellent navigators, who dominated the Mediterranean, used the galley -a man-powered sailing vessel to spread people, culture, technology, civilization, religion… and art. Canaanite deities like Baal and Astarte were being worshipped from Cyprus to Sardinia, Malta, Sicily, Spain, Portugal, and most notably at Carthage in modern Tunisia. Carthage was founded in 814 BC under Pygmalion of Tyre (820