Carving at the entrance of the Temple of Rameses II at Abu Simbel in Southern Egypt
Abu Simbel was first reported by J. L. Burckhardt in 1813, but he only saw the facade of the great temple. The two temples, that of Rameses II primarily dedicated to Re-Harakhte, and that of his wife, Nefertari dedicated to Hathor, became a must see for Victorians visiting Egypt, and often they were covered deeply in sand, as they were when Burckhardt found 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 launched a world wide appeal. During the salvage operation which began in 1964 until 1968, the two temples were dismantled and raised over 60 metres up the sandstone cliff where they had been built more than 3,000 years before. Here they were reassembled and covered with an artificial mountain.
Size: 5100px × 3414px
Location: Abu Simbel, Nubia, Southern Egypt
Photo credit: © Brenda Kean / Alamy / Afripics
License: Royalty Free
Model Released: No
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