Photo: Diego Delso (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Culture and heritage · Egypt
The temples of Abu Simbel
Two temples cut into the mountain by Ramesses II above Lake Nasser, moved whole in the 1960s. A day trip from Aswan by road or by air.
Aswan · Egypt
The experience
On the west shore of Lake Nasser, about 280 km south of Aswan, Ramesses II had two temples cut into the rock in the 13th century BC: the Great Temple, with its four seated colossi each about 20 metres high, and the temple of Queen Nefertari beside it.
When the waters of the High Dam rose, both temples were moved block by block to higher ground between 1964 and 1968, in an international campaign led by UNESCO, the campaign that inspired the World Heritage List itself. The site now belongs to "Nubian Monuments from Abu Simbel to Philae".
We arrange the trip by private car leaving Aswan at dawn, about three and a half hours each way, or by a short flight from Aswan when one is available. On 22 February and 22 October each year the rising sun reaches the inner sanctuary and lights its statues.
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