Thursday, February 10, 2011

Abu Simbel-- A Temple On the Move

This temple was originally built by Ramses II. The four statues of the Pharoah were cut out of a single slab of rock.
Abu Simbel was  one of the many temples threatened by flooding when the Aswan Dam was built in the 1960s. Rather than lose this magnificent monument it was cut up and moved up to higher ground. Lake Nasser has put the original site some 60 metres underwater.


Next to it is the Temple of Hathor which was built for Nefertari,  Ramses' wife.

We were able to go in and look around these temples. It's so hard to image the painstaking work in building them, never mind moving them.

10 comments:

the Bag Lady said...

Unbelievable! Incredible that they were built in the first place, but what a feat to move them!
Cool!

Leah J. Utas said...

You've got that right, Bag Lady. It's humbling.

Reb said...

What Sis said ;) Can you make out seams in real life? I can't see any in your photos. Just an astounding feat, both times.

Leah J. Utas said...

Reb, I couldn't tell where the cuts were made. Magnificent. And they had to hand saw them as the vibrations from a power saw would have ruined the statues.

Dawn said...

I remember reading about these statues. What an enormous job - but how good that they bothered.

Leah J. Utas said...

Dawn, we saw a documentary on the move on the cruise. It was an amazing job.

messymimi said...

Powerful. Must be even more so in person.

Leah J. Utas said...

Overwhelming, Messymimi.

Hilary said...

That's just incredible. I'm glad they were saved. It's mind-boggling to think of what work has gone into these structures.. twice.

Leah J. Utas said...

Hilary, it is beyond me. But I'm glad it is not beyond human capabilities.