Photo: Diego Delso · CC BY-SA 4.0
Abu Simbel
Two temples cut from a cliff by Ramesses II — then moved, stone by stone, to escape a lake.
About
Ramesses II had these temples carved into a sandstone cliff in the thirteenth century BC, fronted by four seated colossi twenty metres high. In the 1960s, as the Aswan High Dam filled Lake Nasser, the entire complex was cut into more than a thousand blocks and reassembled sixty metres higher — one of the largest engineering rescues ever attempted. Twice a year the rising sun still reaches the inner sanctuary.
Highlights
- The four colossi
- Temple of Nefertari
- Sun Festival, 22 February and 22 October
- Lake Nasser
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