The Relocation of the Temple of Abu Simbel

320km south of Aswan is one of the most famousbraces were also found to be required to prevent the
ancient sites in Egypt, the Temple of Abu Simbel. Itancient temple from crumbling. The race was on as
was built by Ramses II in the 13th Century BC. Carvedthe waters of the Nile were rising more rapidly than
out of a single piece of rock, the facade of the Largeanticipated as Lake Nasser started to take shape.
Temple with two statues on either side of the centralThe Temple of Abu Simbel was cut into 1,036 blocks
entrance is instantly recognizable but had it not beenwith an average weight of 30 tonnes along with
for an amazing feat of engineering, the Temple of Abuanother 1,110 pieces from the surrounding rock. The first
Simbel would have been lost under the waters ofblock was moved on 21st May 1965 and this was the
Lake Nasser.start of what is considered by many to be the
When the Aswan High Dam was built across thegreatest feat of archaeological engineering. The
River Nile, it created Lake Nasser. For centuries, therelocation was completed just in time as by the end of
Temple of Abu Simbel had stood at the banks of the1965, the rising waters of Lake Nasser were slowly
Nile but the rising water would swallow it up. In 1959, astarting to fill the caverns where Abu Simbel once
campaign was launched to save many of the ancientstood.
temples from Lake Nasser. UNESCO also set up aThe relocation of the Temple of Abu Simbel was
commission to study the problem of relocating thecomplete right down to the "miracle of the sun". When
Temple of Abu Simbel. However, the problem was notRamses II had finished the temple, twice a year in the
a simple one due to the fact the temple had beenearly morning, a beam of sunlight would penetrate
carved out of a single piece of rock measuring 65mbetween the entrance and the shrine bathing
long and 38m wide.Amon-Ra and Ramses II in light. A few moments later,
In the end, a solution proposed by Sweden wasthe ray would move on and fall on Harmakis. Around
chosen. The plan involved removing the overhanging20 minutes later, the light disappears and what makes
rocky mass, cutting the temples in to pieces andit more amazing is that the light never falls on Ptah -
moving them to a new location 65m high and 200mthe God of Darkness.
further back from the rising waters of the River Nile.Thanks to the relocation of the Temple of Abu Simbel
Before the temples were cut, 17,000 holes were drilledand other ancient sites, visitors to Lake Nasser -can
into the stone and a resin was injected to strengthenstill enjoy these fascinating places.
the structure. In addition to the 33 tonnes of resin, iron