Abu Simbel in Egypt

Abu Simbel in Egypt

The two temples at Abu Simbel Egypt are best known for two reasons: their dazzling magnificence, and their historic relocation from their original cliff. These monumental temples were originally carved out of a sandstone cliff near River Nile over three millenniums ago, during the reign of the great Pharaoh – Ramesses II. The temples were dedicated to the Egyptian gods and to Pharaoh Ramesses II.

Recently, in the 1960s, when the Egyptian government was constructing the Aswan High dam, the temples faced the danger of being submerged under the resultant Lake Nasser. The Egyptian government sought the assistance of UNESCO and the international community to help salvage and relocate the temples to an artificial mountain. The relocation entailed dismantling the two temples then reassembling them in exactly the same form and relationship to each other and to the sun. In their new location, the temples are surrounded by an artificial mountain. A photo exhibition of this historic relocation can be seen at the dome at Abu Simbel.

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The Great Temple

The Great Temple at Abu Simbel, which took about twenty years to build, was completed around year 24 of the reign of Ramesses the Great (which corresponds to 1265 BCE). It was dedicated to the gods Amun, Ra-Horakhty, and Ptah, as well as to the deified Rameses himself. It is generally considered the grandest and most beautiful of the temples commissioned during the reign of Rameses II, and one of the most beautiful in Egypt.

Four colossal 20 meter statues of the pharaoh with the double Atef crown of Upper and Lower Egypt decorate the facade of the temple, which is 35 meters wide and is topped by a frieze with 22 baboons, worshippers of the sun and flank the entrance.The colossal statues were sculptured directly from the rock in which the temple was located before it was moved. All statues represent Ramesses II, seated on a throne and wearing the double crown of Upper and Lower Egypt. The statue to the left of the entrance was damaged in an earthquake, leaving only the lower part of the statue still intact. The head and torso can still be seen at the statue's feet.

Next to the legs of the colossi, there are other statues no higher than the knees of the pharaoh.These depict Nefertari, Ramesses's chief wife, and queen mother Mut-Tuy, his first two sons Amun-her-khepeshef, Ramesses, and his first six daughters Bintanath, Baketmut, Nefertari, Meritamen, Nebettawy and Isetnofret.