Egypt’s riched ancient history has left the country with dozens of amazing, mystical and beautiful travel destination sites. Among them is the Abu Simbel of Aswan – considered one of the world’s majestic and collosal temples.
Abu Simbel
Abu Simbel refers to two colossal rock temples situated about 230 km southwest of Aswan. The construction of the twin temples started during the reign of pharaoh Ramesses II about 1244 BCE and almost took 20 years to complete. Constructed as a monument to Ramesses II and to impress Egypt’s neighbors, the temple was dedicated to three Egyptian gods – Amun, Ra-Horakhty, and Ptah. Abu Simbel is registered as a UNESCO World Heritage Site and is now an archeological site.
Abu Simbel complex houses two temples. The Great Temple features colossal seated statues of Pharaoh Rameses II and three other gods. Each statue stands more than 20 meters high, however one figure has been damaged due to earthquake. The Small Temple is dedicated to Rameses II wife, Nefertari. Two identical sets of rock statues (two of Ramesses and one of Nefertari) stand guard on either side of the temple’s façade. The enormous statues stands over 20 meter high.
As time passes by, the twin temples was forgotten to history and eventually became covered by sand. Records showed that as early as the 6th century BC, the colossal statues of the Great Temple was covered by up to knee-deep sand. In1813, JL Burckhardt, a Swiss orientalist, accidentally discovered the top of the wall paintings of the temple. He relayed his findings with Giovanni Belzoni, an Italian explorer, who visited the site but failed to dig out an opening to the temple. In 1817, Belzoni made another trip to the temple, and made a successful entry into the temple hall. He took everything valuable with him.
Abu Simbel faced yet another challenge in the early 1960s, as rising water threatened the entire temple complex from submerging during the building of the Aswan Dam. A UNESCO-led multinational team of archeologists, engineers and hundreds of highly-skilled workers started dismantling and reassembling the temple in a more safer site. By 1968, the entire temple complex was relocated on an artificial hill. Today, thousands of tourists visit Abu Simbel colossal temples daily.
It is worth mentioning that the Great Temple design is precisely oriented so that the first rays of the morning sun enters the temple and entirely illuminates the Pharaoh’s face twice every year — on his natal day (22 February) and once again on his coronation day (22 October). Article link: