Not only are the two temples at Abu Simbel among the
most magnificent monuments in the world but their removal and reconstruction
was an historic event in itself. When the temples (280 km from Aswan) were
threatened by submersion in Lake Nasser, due to the construction of the High
Dam, the Egyptian Government secured the support of UNESCO and launched
a world wide appeal. During the salvage operation which began in 1964 and
continued until 1968, the two temples were dismantled and raised over 60 meters
up the sandstone cliff where they had been built more than 3,000 years before.
Here they were reassembled, in the exact same relationship to each other and
the sun, and covered with an artificial mountain.
Most of the joins in the stone have now been filled by
antiquity experts, but inside the temples it is still possible to see where the
blocks were cut. You can also go inside the man made dome and see an exhibition
of photographs showing the different stages of the massive removal project.
Abu Simbel was first reported by J. L. Burckhardt in 1813,
when he came over the mountain and only saw the facade of the great temple as
he was preparing to leave that area via the Nile. The two temples, that of
Ramesses II primarily dedicated to Re-Harakhte, and that of his wife, Nefertari
dedicated to Hathor, became a must see for Victorians visiting Egypt,
even though it required a trip up the Nile, and often they were covered deeply
in sand, as they were when Burckhardt found them.