Suez Canal entrance, Port Said, Egypt. 19th-century albumen print of ships and obelisks at Port Said, Egypt, the northern entrance to the Suez Canal. The Suez Canal crosses the Suez isthmus in Egypt, linking the Mediterranean Sea with the Red Sea. Earlier canals existed, but this one was constructed over a period of 10 years between 1859 and 1869. The entrance obelisks, erected to mark the opening of the canal, were hollow wooden structures painted red. The foreground ship at left is the Undine. This image was obtained by an employee of the Francis Frith photographic company, founded in 1859.