best places in the world : Abu Simbel temple -Egypt

Abu Simbel temple is one of the best places to visit in the world

Abu Simbel temple aswan

location :

Abu Simbel  temple is located in South Egypt on the western bank of Lake Nasser , in Aswan city . 

 Abu Simbel temple  Consists of two temples were carved into the mountain on the west bank of the Nile in the period between 1290 BC. And 1224 BC..

Abu simbel temple Egypt

description:

-From the front yard of the Great Temple there are short degrees  leads the visitor to the wide-open path that extends in front of the front of the temple, that carved from the rock with a height of 30 meters and width of 35 m.

-The huge statues of King Ramses II are guarding the four entrances of the temple with a height reaches  to more than 20 meters for each statue, and each statue accompanies  smaller statues, the King mother statues  - Queen "Toya" - and his wife Queen "Nefertari" and some of their children.

-And above the entrance that leads to the Great Hall of the columns, between the two statues in the center of the interface, there is a fee in the form of the sun god "Ra - Harakhcy" which has a head of a falcon.

Abu simbel temple pharaonic antiquities

Great Hall of the columns are located after the front yard of the temple and its roof carried on eight columns in front of each of them a ten-meter-high statue of the king "Ramses".

The roof is decorated with eagles represent Osiris, and inscriptions on the walls represent the Pharaoh ("Ramses") in various battles victorious as usual.

and the  following hall is a vestibule has four columns , visitor sees "Ramses" and Nefertari "in front of the gods and solar boat carrying the dead to the other world as the beliefs.

The temple was built accurately so that   in 22 of the month of February and 22 of the month of October every year the sunlight beats down the temple through the Hall of Columns, and the corridor to  reach the inner sanctum of  statues Ra ..., and Amon, Ramses II.

Ramses II statue Egypt pharaohs

Abu Simbel temple

The Second Temple in Abu Simbel Temple "Hathor" which carved in the rock, and standing    in front of six massive statues, each of them reaches a height of about ten meters, including four statues of the king Ramses and standing, and there are two statues of his beloved wife Queen Nefertari

These two temples were under improvement and studying since the beginning of the nineteenth century as a result of the study shows that the great temple is dedicated to Ramses II united with  the two gods Amun Ra and Ra Hur emerging sun

's sister . The small is dedicated to Nefertari, wife of Ramses II united with the goddess Hath

The Temple of Abu Simbel was one of the temples that carved from the mountains in the era of «Pharaoh» Ramses II as a permanently monument for  him and Queen Nefertari, to commemorate his victory at the Battle of Kadesh, and to intimidate the people of the Nuba neighboring him, he  began building the temple complex at around 1244 BC,and lasted for almost 20 years, until 1224 BC.

With the passage of time the sand had covered the statues of the main temple up to the knees.The temple was forgotten until 1813, when he found Swiss orientalist Johann Ludwig Burckhardt on the Corniche in the main temple. Burckhardt talked about this discovery with his Italian explorer Giovanni Belzoni, and traveled together to the site, but they were not able to dig the entrance of the temple. Belzoni returned in 1817, after his success in entering the compound. It was said that his men carried what they could carry with them from inside the temple.

the path of the king Abu Simbel temple

The transfer of Abu Simbel temple :

International donations campaign began to save the monuments of Nubia in 1959: the ancient southern effects of this human civilization was under threat from rising water of the Nile River, which was about to result from the process of building the Aswan High Dam.

saving the temples of Abu Simbel began in 1964, and this process has cost $ 40 million.Between 1964 and 1968, the site cut into large blocks (up to 30 tons and an average of 20 tons), was dismantled and re-installed in the new location on the height of 65 m and 200 m higher than the level of the river, and this process is for many one of the greatest works in the engineering archaeological.And some of the structures saved from under the waters of Lake Nasser.Today, thousands of tourists visit the temples daily. The convoys of buses and auto attendant guard graduated twice a day from Aswan, the nearest city. And up many visitors by plane at the airport, which was built specifically for the temple complex.

the transfer of Abu simbel  temple

pharaonic antiquities Egypt

Posted in: Antiquities,Egypt