Abu Simbel
Great Temple of Ramses II
(Rameses II? Ramesses II?? — everywhere I look it’s different so I give up!)
Discovered in 1813 buried in the sand, the temples at Abu Simbel are among the most famous of all ancient Egyptian monuments. 🗿 They are carved directly into the rock near Egypt's southern border (only 35 miles from Sudan!!) and are best known for their imposing façades.
Great Temple of Ramses II
For scale, we are standing next to what would be the crown of the broken statue.
The Great Temple of King Rameses II (1279-1213 BC) dominates the site with its four 20-metre-tall seated colossal statues of the king. Historians can argue, but many believe this was the Rameses who is mentioned in the Biblical story of Moses. 🐍 And yes, it was completely worth the 7 hours in a car today to see it! 💯
More Ramses statues! The limit does not exist.
The walls of its main half are decorated with scenes of Rameses II’s military campaigns. Most notable are the lively scenes of the Battle of Kadesh which he fought against the Hittites. Both sides claim to have won so we’re not really sure how it went! ⚔️ 🛡
Rameses II’s military campaigns.
The temple was built with such precision that for only two days of each year, the 21st of February and 21st of October, the sun's rays travel through the entire lenath of the temple, illuminating the faces of Amun-Ra, Rameses Il and Ra-Horakhty. 🟡 Ptah (far left) was never supposed to be illuminated.
These are the 3 statues (on the right) that are illuminated on Oct/Feb 22nd (formerly 21st) not poor Ptah tho.
Great Temple of Ramses II in May 2022.
Tourists are still waiting out the pandemic.
Another rock-cut temple to the north, known as the Small Temple (it’s not small) is dedicated to the goddess Hathor and Ramses Il's Great Royal Wife, Queen Nefertari. She is said to be the favorite of his 200+ wives & concubines—the four of us are convinced there was some spousal argument that resulted in this temple being built. 🤣
The Small Temple is NOT small.
On the façade of the Small Temple, her colossi are nearly the same size as those of her husband, a very rare honour that symbolises her status and his love for her. ♥️
Inside the Temple of Hathor (Small Temple). This is Guy & Katie! A lovely English couple we met on the dahabiya and convinced to continue with us to Abu Simbel.
The modern lighting paired with the ancient carvings is so cool, but imagine it lit by torches. 🔥
In 1960, with the rising waters of Lake Nasser (world’s largest man-made lake), the two temples of Abu Simbel were in danger of being submerged. At the request of the Egyptian government, an international effort led by UNESCO successfully relocated the two temples to higher ground in 1968 they cut the temple into giant pieces like lego bricks and moved them with cranes (can’t even imagine!). 💪🏻🧱
Queen Nefertari as carved in the side of her temple. Two days later, we got to go into her tomb which is 4 hours away. Read that post here!
The $40M that USA paid to assist with this enormous transfer in today’s dollars would be upwards of $370 million. Very grateful that both the Egyptians and the Americans cared so much to preserve this piece of history and not leave it at the bottom of Lake Nasser never to be seen again like so many others! 🇺🇸 🇪🇬 The statues inside of the Great Temple are illuminated on the 22nd of their respective months since being moved in the 1960’s, but hey—it was a crazy feat, we got pretty darn close!
Queen Nefertari is immediately to my right (as you are looking at the photo) the other stature of her is broken and the other 4 are her husband Rameses II.
If you haven’t had a chance to see ‘Death on the Nile’ yet (it’s streaming now! Put it on your list!) the music swells when they round the corner and first see Abu Simbel. It really does just take your breath away! 🤩
Mystery ‘cheese pastry’ from a convenience store was lunch on the ride to the hotel. It’s true what they say: Traveling is glamorous only in retrospect.