It was a story straight out of the Arabian Nights. Two immense temples are lifted high into the air, and transported to a remote desert site. At the same time an entire hill is created in order to replicate the original setting. Such, essentially, is the story of Abu Simbel.
The twin temples of Abu Simbel, built by Rameses the Great, one dedicated to himself as a god, the other to his delectable wife-daughter Nefetari, were carved out of the living rock at a bend in the Nile. Rameses lived to be almost 100 and spent a considerable part of his long life building temples and statues to himself. Looking at the four huge and identical statues at Abu Simbel, and reflecting that other titanic identical statues of him are at other sites, the heretical thought occurs that Rameses the Great was the McDonald’s of the ancient world, planting his logo everywhere.
In March 1960, just three months after President Nasser had inaugurated work on the Aswan High Dam, Unesco appealed for funds to save the monuments from flooding, and invited plans for their preservation.
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