On this day, July 19, in 1799 the Rosetta Stone was found. It is no small stone. The black basalt slab, found in the Egyptian town of Rosetta, is almost four feet long and two-and-a-half feet wide.
First found by a French soldier when the emperor Napoleon Bonaparte invaded Eygpt, it is now located at the British Museum in London and has been housed there, with the exception of a brief time during World War I, since 1802.
This historic discovery and eventual translation of the hieroglyphics, by French Egyptologist Jean-Francois Champollion, opened up the door to learning about the Ancient world of Egypt.
Learn more at the History Channel
