Abu Simbel is a historic site comprising two massive rock-cut temples in the village of

Abu Simbel Abu Simbel is a historic site comprising two massive Rock-cut architecture, rock-cut Egyptian temple, temples in the village of Abu Simbel (village), Abu Simbel (), Aswan Governorate, Upper Egypt, near the border with Sudan. It is located on t ...

(), Aswan Governorate,

Upper Egypt Upper Egypt ( ', shortened to , , locally: ) is the southern portion of Egypt and is composed of the Nile River valley south of the delta and the 30th parallel North. It thus consists of the entire Nile River valley from Cairo south to Lake N ...

, near the border with

Sudan Sudan, officially the Republic of the Sudan, is a country in Northeast Africa. It borders the Central African Republic to the southwest, Chad to the west, Libya to the northwest, Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the east, Eritrea and Ethiopi ...

. It is located on the western bank of

Lake Nasser Lake Nasser ( ', ) is a large reservoir (water), reservoir in southern Egypt and northern Sudan. It was created by the construction of the Aswan Dam, Aswan High Dam and is one of the List of reservoirs by volume, largest man-made lakes in the wo ...

, about southwest of

Aswan Aswan (, also ; ) is a city in Southern Egypt, and is the capital of the Aswan Governorate. Aswan is a busy market and tourist centre located just north of the Aswan Dam on the east bank of the Nile at the first cataract. The modern city ha ...

(about by road). The twin temples were originally carved out of the mountainside in the 13th century BC, during the 19th Dynasty reign of the

Pharaoh Pharaoh (, ; Egyptian language, Egyptian: ''wikt:pr ꜥꜣ, pr ꜥꜣ''; Meroitic language, Meroitic: 𐦲𐦤𐦧, ; Biblical Hebrew: ''Parʿō'') was the title of the monarch of ancient Egypt from the First Dynasty of Egypt, First Dynasty ( ...

Ramesses II Ramesses II (sometimes written Ramses or Rameses) (; , , ; ), commonly known as Ramesses the Great, was an Pharaoh, Egyptian pharaoh. He was the third ruler of the Nineteenth Dynasty of Egypt, Nineteenth Dynasty. Along with Thutmose III of th ...

. Their huge external

rock relief A rock relief or rock-cut relief is a relief, relief sculpture carved on solid or "living rock" such as a cliff, rather than a detached piece of stone. They are a category of rock art, and sometimes found as part of, or in conjunction ...

figures of Ramesses II have become iconic. His wife,

Nefertari Nefertari, also known as Nefertari Meritmut, was an Egyptian queen and the first of the Great Royal Wife, Great Royal Wives (or principal wives) of Ramesses II, Ramesses the Great. She is one of the best known Egyptian queens, among such women ...

, and children can be seen in smaller figures by his feet. Sculptures inside the Great Temple commemorate Ramesses II's heroic leadership at the

Battle of Kadesh The Battle of Kadesh took place in the 13th century BC between the New Kingdom of Egypt, Egyptian Empire led by pharaoh Ramesses II and the Hittites, Hittite Empire led by king Muwatalli II. Their armies engaged each other at the Orontes River, ...

. The complex was relocated in its entirety in 1968 to higher ground to avoid it being submerged by

, the

Aswan Dam The Aswan Dam, or Aswan High Dam, is one of the world's largest embankment dams, which was built across the Nile in Aswan, Egypt, between 1960 and 1970. When it was completed, it was the tallest earthen dam in the world, surpassing the Chatuge D ...

reservoir. As part of

International Campaign to Save the Monuments of Nubia The International Campaign to Save the Monuments of Nubia was the effort to relocate 22 monuments in Lower Nubia, in Southern Egypt and northern Sudan, between 1960 and 1980. This was done in order to make way for the building of the Aswan Dam, a ...

, an artificial hill was made from a domed structure to house the Abu Simbel Temples, under the supervision of a Polish archaeologist, Kazimierz Michałowski, from the Polish Centre of Mediterranean Archaeology University of Warsaw. The Abu Simbel complex, and other relocated temples from Nubian sites such as

Philae The Philae temple complex (; , , Egyptian: ''p3-jw-rķ' or 'pA-jw-rq''; , ) is an island-based temple complex in the reservoir of the Aswan Low Dam, downstream of the Aswan Dam and Lake Nasser, Egypt. Originally, the temple complex was ...

, Amada, Wadi es-Sebua, are part of the

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...

World Heritage Site World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an treaty, international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural ...

known as the Nubian Monuments.

History

Construction

During his reign,

embarked on an extensive building program throughout Egypt and

Nubia Nubia (, Nobiin language, Nobiin: , ) is a region along the Nile river encompassing the area between the confluence of the Blue Nile, Blue and White Nile, White Niles (in Khartoum in central Sudan), and the Cataracts of the Nile, first cataract ...

, which Egypt controlled. Nubia was very important to the Egyptians because it was a source of gold and many other precious trade goods. He, therefore, built several grand temples there in order to impress upon the Nubians Egypt's might and Egyptianize the people of Nubia.Verner, Miroslav. Temple of the Word: Sanctuaries, Cults and Mysteries of Ancient Egypt. (Cairo: The American University in Cairo Press, 2013).Hawass, Zahi. The Mysteries of Abu Simbel. (Cairo: The American University in Cairo Press, 2000). The most prominent temples are the rock-cut temples near the modern village of

, at the Second Nile Cataract, the border between Lower Nubia and Upper Nubia. There are two temples, the Great Temple, dedicated to Ramesses II himself, and the Small Temple, dedicated to his chief wife Queen

. Construction of the temple complex started in and lasted for about 20 years, until 1244 BC. It was known as the Temple of Ramesses, Beloved by

Amun Amun was a major ancient Egyptian deity who appears as a member of the Hermopolitan Ogdoad. Amun was attested from the Old Kingdom together with his wife Amunet. His oracle in Siwa Oasis, located in Western Egypt near the Libyan Desert, r ...

Rediscovery

With the passage of time, the temples fell into disuse and the Great Temple eventually became mostly covered by a sand

dune A dune is a landform composed of wind- or water-driven sand. It typically takes the form of a mound, ridge, or hill. An area with dunes is called a dune system or a dune complex. A large dune complex is called a dune field, while broad, flat ...

. By the 6th century BC, the sand already covered the statues of the main temple up to their knees. The temple was forgotten by Europeans until March 1813, when the

Swiss Swiss most commonly refers to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Swiss may also refer to: Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina * Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses * Swiss Café, an old café located ...

researcher Johann Ludwig Burckhardt found the small temple and top

frieze In classical architecture, the frieze is the wide central section of an entablature and may be plain in the Ionic order, Ionic or Corinthian order, Corinthian orders, or decorated with bas-reliefs. Patera (architecture), Paterae are also ...

of the main temple.

When we reached the top of the mountain, I left my guide, with the camels, and descended an almost perpendicular cleft, choaked with sand, to view the temple of Ebsambal, of which I had heard many magnificent descriptions. There is no road at present to this temple... It stands about twenty feet above the surface of the water, entirely cut out of the almost perpendicular rocky side of the mountain, and in complete preservation. In front of the entrance are six erect colossal figures, representing juvenile persons, three on each side, placed in narrow recesses, and looking towards the river; they are all of the same size, stand with one foot before the other, and are accompanied by smaller figures... Having, as I supposed, seen all the antiquities of Ebsambal, I was about to ascend the sandy side of the mountain by the same way I had descended; when having luckily turned more to the southward, I fell in with what is yet visible of four immense colossal statues cut out of the rock, at a distance of about two hundred yards from the temple; they stand in a deep recess, excavated in the mountain; but it is greatly to be regretted, that they are now almost entirely buried beneath the sands, which are blown down here in torrents. The entire head, and part of the breast and arms of one of the statues are yet above the surface; of the one next to it scarcely any part is visible, the head being broken off, and the body covered with sand to above the shoulders; of the other two, the bonnets only appear. It is difficult to determine, whether these statues are in a sitting or standing posture; their backs adhere to a portion of rock, which projects from the main body, and which may represent a part of a chair, or may be merely a column for support.

Burckhardt talked about his discovery with the Italian explorer Giovanni Belzoni, who travelled to the site, but was unable to dig out an entry to the temple. Belzoni returned in 1817, this time succeeding in his attempt to enter the complex. A detailed early description of the temples, together with contemporaneous line drawings, can be found in Edward William Lane's ''Description of Egypt'' (1825–1828).

Relocation

In 1959, an international donations campaign to save the

monument A monument is a type of structure that was explicitly created to commemorate a person or event, or which has become relevant to a social group as a part of their remembrance of historic times or cultural heritage, due to its artistic, historical ...

s of

began: the southernmost relics of this ancient civilization were under threat from the rising waters of the Nile that were about to result from the construction of the

Aswan High Dam The Aswan Dam, or Aswan High Dam, is one of the world's largest embankment dams, which was built across the Nile in Aswan, Egypt, between 1960 and 1970. When it was completed, it was the tallest earthen dam in the world, surpassing the Chatug ...

One scheme to save the temples was based on an idea by William MacQuitty to build a clear freshwater dam around the temples, with the water inside kept at the same height as the Nile. There were to be underwater viewing chambers. In 1962 the idea was made into a proposal by architects Jane Drew and Maxwell Fry and civil engineer

Ove Arup Sir Ove Nyquist Arup (16 April 1895 – 5 February 1988) was an English engineer who founded Arup Group Limited, a multinational corporation offering engineering, design, planning, project management, and consultant, consulting services for bu ...

. The salvage of the Abu Simbel temples began in 1964 by a multinational team of archeologists, engineers and skilled heavy equipment operators working together under the

banner; it cost some $40 million (equivalent to $ million in ). Between 1964 and 1968, the entire site was carefully cut into large blocks (up to 30 tons, averaging 20 tons), dismantled, lifted and reassembled in a new location 65 metres higher and 200 metres back from the river, in one of the greatest challenges of archaeological engineering in history. Some structures were even saved from under the waters of Lake Nasser. Today, a few hundred tourists visit the temples daily. Most visitors arrive by road from

, the nearest city. Others arrive by plane at Abu Simbel Airport, an airfield specially constructed for the temple complex whose sole destination is Aswan International Airport. The complex consists of two temples. The larger one is dedicated to Ra-Horakhty, Ptah and

, Egypt's three state deities of the time, and features four large statues of Ramesses II in the facade. The smaller temple is dedicated to the goddess

Hathor Hathor (, , , Meroitic language, Meroitic: ') was a major ancient Egyptian deities, goddess in ancient Egyptian religion who played a wide variety of roles. As a sky deity, she was the mother or consort of the sky god Horus and the sun god R ...

, personified by

, Ramesses's most beloved of his many wives. The temple is now open to the public.

Great Temple

The Great Temple at Abu Simbel, which took about twenty years to build, was completed around year 24 of the reign of Ramesses the Great (which corresponds to 1265 BC). It was dedicated to the gods

, Ra-Horakhty, and Ptah, as well as to the deified Ramesses himself.Alberto Siliotti, Egypt: temples, people, gods,1994 It is generally considered the grandest and most beautiful of the temples commissioned during the reign of Ramesses II, and one of the most beautiful in Egypt.

Entrance

The single entrance is flanked by four colossal, statues, each representing Ramesses II seated on a throne and wearing the double crown of

Upper and Lower Egypt In History of ancient Egypt, Egyptian history, the Upper and Lower Egypt period (also known as The Two Lands) was the final stage of prehistoric Egypt and directly preceded the Early Dynastic Period (Egypt), unification of the realm. The concepti ...

. The statue to the immediate left of the entrance was damaged in an earthquake, causing the head and torso to fall away; these fallen pieces were not restored to the statue during the relocation but placed at the statue's feet in the positions originally found. Next to Ramesses's legs are a number of other, smaller statues, none higher than the knees of the pharaoh, depicting: his chief wife, Nefertari Meritmut; his queen mother Mut-Tuy; his first two sons, Amun-her-khepeshef and Ramesses B; and his first six daughters: Bintanath, Baketmut,

, Meritamen, Nebettawy and Isetnofret.
The façade behind the colossi is high and wide. It carries a frieze depicting twenty-two baboons worshipping the rising sun with upraised arms and a stele recording the marriage of Ramesses to a daughter of king

Ḫattušili III Hattusili III (Hittite language, Hittite: "from Hattusa") was king of the Hittite empire (New Kingdom) –1245 BC (middle chronology) or 1267–1237 BC (short chronology timeline)., pp.xiii-xiv Early life and family Much of what is known about ...

, which sealed the peace between Egypt and the

Hittites The Hittites () were an Anatolian peoples, Anatolian Proto-Indo-Europeans, Indo-European people who formed one of the first major civilizations of the Bronze Age in West Asia. Possibly originating from beyond the Black Sea, they settled in mo ...

.Ania Skliar, ''Grosse kulturen der welt-Ägypten'', 2005
The entrance doorway itself is surmounted by bas-relief images of the king worshipping the falcon-headed Ra Horakhty, whose statue stands in a large niche. Ra holds the hieroglyph ''user'' and a feather in his right hand, with Maat (the goddess of truth and justice) in his left; this is a cryptogram for Ramesses II's throne name, ''User-Maat-Re''.

Interior

The inner part of the temple has the same triangular layout that most ancient Egyptian temples follow, with rooms decreasing in size from the entrance to the sanctuary. The temple is complex in structure and quite unusual because of its many side chambers. The

hypostyle In architecture, a hypostyle () hall has a roof which is supported by columns. Etymology The term ''hypostyle'' comes from the ancient Greek ὑπόστυλος ''hypóstȳlos'' meaning "under columns" (where ὑπό ''hypó'' means below or und ...

hall (sometimes also called a pronaos) is long and wide and is supported by eight huge Osirid pillars depicting the deified Ramesses linked to the god

Osiris Osiris (, from Egyptian ''wikt:wsjr, wsjr'') was the ancient Egyptian deities, god of fertility, agriculture, the Ancient Egyptian religion#Afterlife, afterlife, the dead, resurrection, life, and vegetation in ancient Egyptian religion. He was ...

, the god of fertility, agriculture, the afterlife, the dead, resurrection, life and vegetation, to indicate the everlasting nature of the pharaoh. The colossal statues along the left-hand wall bear the white crown of

, while those on the opposite side are wearing the double crown of Upper and

Lower Egypt Lower Egypt ( ') is the northernmost region of Egypt, which consists of the fertile Nile Delta between Upper Egypt and the Mediterranean Sea, from El Aiyat, south of modern-day Cairo, and Dahshur. Historically, the Nile River split into sev ...

(pschent). The bas-reliefs on the walls of the pronaos depict battle scenes in the military campaigns that Ramesses waged. Much of the sculpture is given to the

, on the Orontes river in present-day

Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...

, in which the Egyptian king fought against the

. The most famous relief shows the king on his chariot shooting arrows against his fleeing enemies, who are being taken prisoner. Other scenes show Egyptian victories in

Libya Libya, officially the State of Libya, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to Egypt–Libya border, the east, Sudan to Libya–Sudan border, the southeast, Chad to Chad–L ...

and Nubia. From the hypostyle hall, one enters the second pillared hall, which has four pillars decorated with beautiful scenes of offerings to the gods. There are depictions of Ramesses and Nefertari with the sacred boats of Amun and Ra-Horakhty. This hall gives access to a transverse vestibule, in the middle of which is the entrance to the sanctuary. Here, on a black wall, are rock cut sculptures of four seated figures: Ra-Horakhty, the deified king Ramesses, and the gods Amun Ra and Ptah. Ra-Horakhty, Amun Ra and Ptah were the main divinities in that period and their cult centers were at Heliopolis, Thebes and Memphis respectively.

Solar alignment

It is believed that the axis of the temple was positioned by the ancient Egyptian architects in such a way that on October 22 and February 22, the rays of the sun would penetrate the sanctuary and illuminate the sculptures on the back wall, except for the statue of Ptah, a god connected with the realm of the dead, who always remained in the dark. People gather at Abu Simbel on these days to witness this. These dates are allegedly the king's birthday and coronation day, respectively. There is no direct evidence to support this. It is logical to assume, however, that these dates had some relation to a significant event. In fact, according to calculations made on the basis of the

heliacal rising The heliacal rising ( ) of a star or a planet occurs annually when it becomes visible above the eastern horizon at dawn just before sunrise (thus becoming "the Morning Star (disambiguation)#Astronomy, morning star"). A heliacal rising marks the ti ...

of the star Sirius (Sothis) and inscriptions found by archaeologists, this date must have been October 22. This image of the king was enhanced and revitalized by the energy of the solar star, and the deified Ramesses the Great could take his place next to Amun-Ra and Ra-Horakhty. Because of the accumulated drift of the

Tropic of Cancer The Tropic of Cancer, also known as the Northern Tropic, is the Earth's northernmost circle of latitude where the Sun can be seen directly overhead. This occurs on the June solstice, when the Northern Hemisphere is tilted toward the Sun ...

due to

Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to Planetary habitability, harbor life. This is enabled by Earth being an ocean world, the only one in the Solar System sustaining liquid surface water. Almost all ...

's axial precession over the past 3 millennia, the event's date must have been different when the temple was built. This is compounded by the fact that the temple was relocated from its original setting, so the current alignment may not be as precise as the original one.

Greek graffito

A graffito inscribed in Greek on the left leg of the colossal seated statue of

, on the south side of the entrance to the temple records that: Kerkis was located near the Fifth Cataract of the Nile "which stood well within the Cushite Kingdom."Britannica, p.756

Small Temple

The

temple A temple (from the Latin ) is a place of worship, a building used for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. By convention, the specially built places of worship of some religions are commonly called "temples" in Engli ...

and

, also known as the Small Temple, was built about northeast of the temple of Ramesses II and was dedicated to the goddess Hathor and Ramesses II's chief consort, Nefertari. This was in fact the second time in ancient Egyptian history that a temple was dedicated to a queen. The first time, Akhenaten dedicated a temple to his great royal wife, Nefertiti. The rock-cut facade is decorated with two groups of colossi that are separated by the large gateway. The statues, slightly more than high, are of the king and his queen. On either side of the portal are two statues of the king, wearing the white crown of

(south colossus) and the double crown (north colossus); these are flanked by statues of the queen. Remarkably, this is one of very few instances in Egyptian art where the statues of the king and his consort have equal size. Traditionally, the statues of the queens stood next to those of the pharaoh, but were never taller than his knees. Ramesses went to Abu Simbel with his wife in the 24th year of his reign. As the Great Temple of the king, there are small statues of princes and princesses next to their parents. In this case they are positioned symmetrically: on the south side (at left as one faces the gateway) are, from left to right, princes Meryatum and Meryre, princesses Meritamen and Henuttawy, and princes Pareherwenemef and Amun-her-khepeshef, while on the north side the same figures are in reverse order. The plan of the Small Temple is a simplified version of that of the Great Temple. As in the larger temple dedicated to the king, the

hall in the smaller temple is supported by six pillars; in this case, however, they are not Osiris pillars depicting the king, but are decorated with scenes with the queen playing the sistrum (an instrument sacred to the goddess Hathor), together with the

gods A deity or god is a supernatural being considered to be sacred and worthy of worship due to having authority over some aspect of the universe and/or life. The ''Oxford Dictionary of English'' defines ''deity'' as a God (male deity), god or god ...

Horus Horus (), also known as Heru, Har, Her, or Hor () in Egyptian language, Ancient Egyptian, is one of the most significant ancient Egyptian deities who served many functions, most notably as the god of kingship, healing, protection, the sun, and t ...

, Khnum, Khonsu, and Thoth, and the

goddess A goddess is a female deity. In some faiths, a sacred female figure holds a central place in religious prayer and worship. For example, Shaktism (one of the three major Hinduism, Hindu sects), holds that the ultimate deity, the source of all re ...

es Hathor,

Isis Isis was a major goddess in ancient Egyptian religion whose worship spread throughout the Greco-Roman world. Isis was first mentioned in the Old Kingdom () as one of the main characters of the Osiris myth, in which she resurrects her sla ...

, Maat, Mut of Asher,

Satis Station Area Traffic Improvement Scheme (SATIS) is a World Bank funded station area traffic improvement project. It is implemented by Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) and Thane Municipal Corporation. This project is exec ...

and Taweret; in one scene Ramesses is presenting flowers or burning

incense Incense is an aromatic biotic material that releases fragrant smoke when burnt. The term is used for either the material or the aroma. Incense is used for aesthetic reasons, religious worship, aromatherapy, meditation, and ceremonial reasons. It ...

. The capitals of the pillars bear the face of the goddess Hathor; this type of column is known as Hathoric. The bas-reliefs in the pillared hall illustrate the deification of the king, the destruction of his enemies in the north and south (in these scenes the king is accompanied by his wife), and the queen making offerings to the goddesses Hathor and Mut. The hypostyle hall is followed by a vestibule, access to which is given by three large doors. On the south and the north walls of this chamber there are two graceful and poetic bas-reliefs of the king and his consort presenting

papyrus Papyrus ( ) is a material similar to thick paper that was used in ancient times as a writing surface. It was made from the pith of the papyrus plant, ''Cyperus papyrus'', a wetland sedge. ''Papyrus'' (plural: ''papyri'' or ''papyruses'') can a ...

plants to Hathor, who is depicted as a cow on a boat sailing in a thicket of papyri. On the west wall, Ramesses II and Nefertari are depicted making offerings to the god Horus and the divinities of the Cataracts—

, Anubis and Khnum. The rock-cut

sanctuary A sanctuary, in its original meaning, is a sacred space, sacred place, such as a shrine, protected by ecclesiastical immunity. By the use of such places as a haven, by extension the term has come to be used for any place of safety. This seconda ...

and the two side chambers are connected to the transverse vestibule and are aligned with the axis of the temple. The bas-reliefs on the side walls of the small sanctuary represent scenes of offerings to various gods made either by the pharaoh or the

queen Queen most commonly refers to: * Queen regnant, a female monarch of a kingdom * Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king * Queen (band), a British rock band Queen or QUEEN may also refer to: Monarchy * Queen dowager, the widow of a king * Q ...

. On the back wall, which lies to the west along the axis of the temple, there is a niche in which Hathor, as a divine cow, seems to be coming out of the mountain: the goddess is depicted as the Mistress of the temple dedicated to her and to queen Nefertari, who is intimately linked to the goddess.

Climate

Köppen-Geiger climate classification system classifies its climate as hot desert (BWh).

Gallery

Historic pictures

File:Illustration by David Roberts, digitally enhanced by rawpixel-com 6.jpg, 1840s sketch from '' The Holy Land, Syria, Idumea, Arabia, Egypt, and Nubia'' File:Maxime Du Camp (French - Westernmost Colossus, the Great Temple, Abu Simbel - Google Art Project.jpg, Westernmost Colossus, 1850 by Maxime Du Camp File:John Beasly Greene (American, born France - (Ibsamboul. Spéos de Phré) - Google Art Project.jpg, Earliest photo, 1854 by John Beasley Greene File:Abu Simbel ( 175 miles south of Aswan, left bank).jpg, alt=Geneva architect, Jean Jacquet, a Unesco expert, makes an architectural survey of the Great Temple of Rameses II (1290–1223 B.C.)., Genevese architect Jean Jacquet, a UNESCO expert, makes an architectural survey of the Great Temple of Rameses II File:S10.08 Abu Simbel, image 9930.jpg, Front view of the Great Temple before 1923 File:S10.08 Abu Simbel, image 9505.jpg, Interior of the Great Temple, before cleaning File:S10.08 Abu Simbel, image 9499.jpg, Interior of the Great Temple, after cleaning File:S10.08 Abu Simbel, image 9500.jpg, People standing at the entrance to the Great Temple, sometime before 1923 File:S10.08 Abu Simbel, image 9498.jpg, View of the Great Temple from the west, photo credited to William Henry Goodyear, before 1923 File:S10.08 Abu Simbel, image 9494.jpg, Facade of the Great Temple from before 1923 File:S10.08 Abu Simbel, image 9488.jpg, View of the rightmost statue at the Great Temple, partially excavated, with a person (possibly William Henry Goodyear) for scale File:S10.08 Abu Simbel, image 9489.jpg, View of the Great Temple's colossal statues from the right, partially excavated File:S10 08 Abu Simbel, image 9491.jpg, Colour photo of the Great Temple from the right, partially excavated, from before 1923 File:S10 08 Abu Simbel, image 9487.jpg, The Great Temple from the right, from before 1923 File:John Beasly Greene (American, born France - (Ibsamboul. Spéos d'Hathor, partie gauche de la façade) - Google Art Project.jpg, Earliest photo of Small Temple, 1854 by John Beasley Greene File:John Beasly Greene (American, born France - (Ibsamboul, Stèle à Droite du Temple d'Hathor) - Google Art Project.jpg, Stele adjacent to Small Temple, 1854 by John Beasley Greene File:S10.08 Abu Simbel, image 9496.jpg, The Small Temple from below and left, before 1923 File:S10.08 Abu Simbel, image 9495.jpg, Interior of Nefertari's (queen's) temple at Abu Simbel, with graffiti File:S10.08 Abu Simbel, image 9504.jpg, The Small Temple in context, before relocation. Goodyear Brooklyn Museum Archives

Modern pictures

File:Abu Simbel Temple May 30 2007.jpg, Facade of the Temple of Ramesses II, photo taken in 2007 File:S F-E-CAMERON EGYPT 2006 FEB 00671.JPG, Close-up of the leftmost statue at the temple of Rameses II File:SFEC EGYPT ABUSIMBEL 2006-001.JPG, Central, inset statue of Ra-Horakhty at the Great Temple File:Abu Simbel - baboons detail.jpg, Baboon carvings above the heads of the statues of Ramses at the Great Temple File:RamsesIIEgypt.jpg, A close-up of one of the colossal statues of Ramesses II wearing the double crown of Lower and Upper Egypt File:2N9A6519-Pano.jpg, Frieze inside the Great Temple of Abu Simbel File:Nefertari Temple Abu Simbel May 30 2007.jpg, Closer view of the Small Temple, 2007 File:SethAndHorusAdoringRamsses crop.jpg, The gods

Set Set, The Set, SET or SETS may refer to: Science, technology, and mathematics Mathematics *Set (mathematics), a collection of elements *Category of sets, the category whose objects and morphisms are sets and total functions, respectively Electro ...

(left) and

(right) blessing Ramesses in the Small Temple at Abu Simbel File:NefertariOfferingToHathor crop.jpg, Nefertari offering sistra to seated goddess

. Frieze inside the Small Temple. File:RamessesOfferingToPtah crop.jpg, Ramesses offering to seated god Ptah. Frieze inside the Small Temple.

References

External links

*
Abu Simbel
at the website of ''Egypt State Information Service'' {{Authority control 13th-century BC establishments in Egypt 1813 archaeological discoveries Archaeological sites in Egypt Buildings and structures completed in the 13th century BC Colossal statues in Egypt Egyptian temples Lake Nasser Monuments and memorials in Egypt Nefertari Nineteenth Dynasty of Egypt Open-air museums in Egypt Ramesses II Rock reliefs in Egypt Stone buildings Tourist attractions in Egypt World Heritage Sites in Egypt Relocated monuments of Lower Nubia Rock-cut architecture Ra Amun Ptah Hathor