Abu Simbel Relocation Project

Abu Simbel Temple Information:

These enchanting Abu Simbel temples are located in a Nubian village in southern Egypt near the borders of Sudan about 230 km southwest of Aswan. These elegant temples are the lasting historical monument for the king Ramses II and his queen Nefertari. He built this temple to commemorate his victory at the Battle of Kadesh.

The Discovery of Abu Simbel Temple in 1817:

After the temples were abandoned and therefore covered with sand, the sand covered the main temple statues up to the knees. The temple was forgotten until 1813 when the Swiss orientalist Giro Alborkhardt found the corniche of the main temple, Borchardt spoke of the discovery with his Italian explorer Giovanni Pelonzi, who traveled together to the site, but could not dig the entrance to the temple. Belonzi returned in 1817, but this time he succeeded in trying to enter this complex.
On March 8, 1960, UNESCO launched a call to unite the peoples of the world to save masterpieces of the human mind in the Abu Simbel temples from drowning and to transfer them safely from the waters of Lake Nasser, pointing to the response of 51 countries of the world to contribute to the rescue of this unique world heritage.

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The cost of saving the Abu Simbel temples was 36 million US dollars and continued from 1964 to 1968. The entire site of the temple was cut into large blocks of 30 tons and an average of 20 tons. It was dismantled and re-installed at a new site at a height of 65 meters and 200 meters. Meters above the river level.

The Egyptian hands have great struggles to save the traces of our ancient ancestors in the process of transferring the Abu Simbel temples, Ramses II temple and the temple of his wife Nefertari, without changing the status of the temple and its historical place. Transportation works were one of the most difficult transfers of buildings on Historically, architects and archaeologists have tried to maintain the geometrical angles and the phenomenon of sun-drying without any damage or changes.

Read the entire story of Abu Simbel temple relocation and facts about this temple.

The Transfer of Abu Simbel Temple Took Place in Several Stages:

The first phase was the construction of a dam between the Nile water and the temples, in order to protect the temple from immersion in the water that rises rapidly.

The second stage was covering the temple facade with sand during rock cutting.

The third stage is the transfer of the engineers to cut the blocks of the stone temples and then numbered them so that they can be installed after the transfer. Then they were transferred to the site of the new temple, which is 120 meters away from the old place and 60 meters higher than it was before after all the stones were removed from its old location.

The fourth phase was started by installing it again from the Holy of Holies, the last part of the temples from the inside to the outer gate. Concrete domes were built under the artificial mountain rocks and above the temples to ease the carrying of the mountain rocks on the temples. Projects of the past century for the magnitude and precision required to implement the sun's durability.

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See the process of Abu Simbel relocation in reality by this video: