Take a guided Tour to Abu Simbel from Aswan, visit the most Awe-inspiring temples, rock-cut temples built by Ramses II on the frontier village of Abu Simbel
This Tour to Abu Simbel from Aswan takes you to the grandeur site comprising two massive rock-cut temples on the western bank of Lake Nasser, about 300 km (190 mi) southwest of Aswan. The twin temples were originally hewn into the mountainside in the 13th century BC by the legendary Pharaoh Rameses II. Who dedicated the Grand temple to himself and the Hathoric temple to his favorite consort Nefertari, the reliefs inside the Great Temple commemorate the heroic leadership of Rameses II’s against the Hetite king Khatosili during the famous Battle of Kadesh.
With the passage of time, the temples fell into disuse and became mostly covered by a sand around the 6th century BC. Until March 1813, when the Swiss researcher Johann Ludwig Burckhardt found the small temple and the top frieze of the Great temple. Burckhardt didn’t have the chance to clear the temples, but he talked about his discovery with his Italian friend Giovanni Belzoni, who returned in 1817 and succeeded to remove the sand and enter the complex and bring it to light again.
The complex was relocated by the UNESCO to higher ground. In 1959, an international donations campaign began to save the monuments of Nubia including Abu Simbel Temples that were under threat from the rising waters of the Nile while building the Aswan High Dam.
The salvage of the Abu Simbel temples started in 1964 till 1968 by a multinational team of under the UNESCO banner; it cost about $40 million at the time. The entire complex was cut into huge blocks (average 20 tons), dismantled, lifted and reassembled in a new location 200 meters back and 65 meters higher from the water. Some structures were even saved from under the waters of Lake Nasser.
Sun Festival & Solar alignment:
The axis of the temple was positioned in a way that the sun would aluminate the sanctuary of the temple twice a year on October 22 and February 22, these dates are believed to be the king’s birthday and coronation day, respectively.
Overview
Take a guided Tour to Abu Simbel from Aswan, visit the most Awe-inspiring temples, rock-cut temples built by Ramses II on the frontier village of Abu Simbel
Abu Simbel is a grandeur site comprising two massive rock-cut temples on Lake Nasser. The twin temples were originally hewn into the mountainside in the 13th century BC by the legendary Pharaoh Rameses II. Who dedicated the Grand temple to himself and the Hathoric temple to his favorite consort Nefertari, the reliefs inside the Great Temple commemorate the heroic leadership of Rameses II’s against the Hetite king Khatosili during the famous Battle of Kadesh.
