Amazing Abu Simbel!


After an incredible and quick immersion into Egypt by exploring the pyramids, Abu Simbel ratcheted up the “wow” factor a notch!

AWESOME!

This didn’t just happen – as always there’s a story and a journey involved!

Day two started with a 4am wake up call to fly from Cairo to Abu Simbel, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in the south of Egypt right on the border by Sudan.

Early Start!
Welcome to Abu SImbel

After a very short drive from the airport, we arrived at the temple site. There are two temples here – one for King Rameses II and a second for his favourite wife, Nefatari. I could feel my excitement building as we passed through the ticket gate and started to make our way to the temples. Somehow, I knew that this was going to be amazing!

It’s huge…and this is from behind!

Rounding the mound, the giant statues materialized, leaving me speechless.

Can you feel the wow-factor?

Wow!

Just 50 m further and all was revealed…

Majestic!


Four statues of Rameses, showcasing him at different ages (30, 40, 50, and 60), stand guard at the main entrance. The temple, carved directly into the sandstone cliffs, took 20 years to create. An earthquake shook the second statue from the left, sending its head tumbling to the ground. The fallen pieces still rest at the statue’s feet.


In addition to Rameses, there are smaller statues including his wife and some of his over 160 children, none of which are larger than Rameses’ knees.

Statues of Rameses wife and children

Rameses was a great builder, having commissioned a large number of the temples along the Nile in different locations.Our exploration revealed several reasons for building temples. Religion played a key role: temples served as reminders of the gods, the king’s connection to them, and even the god-like status of certain pharaohs. The second reason was political. For instance, the huge statues of Ramses facing Egypt’s southern neighbours were there to remind those approaching Egypt that Rameses was a great King and warrior, as depicted in the carvings and hieroglyphs throughout the temple, telling the story of the king’s victory at Kadesh.

We couldn’t take pictures inside the temple, but here you may see in the background the first hall with 8 more massive statues of Rameses lining the entrance.

The entrance to the temple

Queen Nefatari’s temple

Rameses had a smaller temple built to honour his favourite wife, Nefatari.

Temple dedicated to Nefertari

There are 6 statues at the front of this temple as well…4 of Rameses and 2 of Nefatari, each standing 10.5 m tall.  That’s right…the temple was to honour Nefatari, but there are more statues of Rameses!

At their feet are some of their children, boys at the feet of Rameses and the girls at the feet of Nefatari.  What’s interesting about this temple is that generally, women would be depicted as no larger than the Pharaoh’s knees.  Since Nefatari was Rameses’ favourite wife, she was carved at the same height as Rameses.


Temples on the Move


Between 1963 and 1968, with the threat of rising waters of the Nile due to the construction of the Aswan High Dam, an international team led by UNESCO with financial and technical contributions from over 50 countries proceeded to move the two temples 200 m to higher ground. Approximately 16000 blocks were carefully removed, catalogued, moved and reconstructed in the current-day location. As part of the reconstruction, a huge concrete dome was constructed as a replacement for the cliffs which the temple was carved from. This dome was then covered with dirt and rock to blend into the surrounding environment.

Astonishing view of both temples

The cost – $40 million USD in 1968 (approximately $300 million in today’s dollars!)

This experience reminded me of our adventures in Jordan when we visited the sandstone carved facades in Petra. The scale and level of detail at both locations are amazing. While our visit to the Pyramids just a day earlier was fantastic, visiting Abu Simbel seemed to make our trip to Egypt just a little more magical.

Amazing morning at Abu Simbel!

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Comments

13 responses to “Amazing Abu Simbel!”

  1. Annie Slater Avatar
    Annie Slater

    Absolutely incredible! Looking forward to seeing many more pictures of these temples and of your entire trip!
    xo Annie

    1. Hi Annie, thanks for following! Stay tuned…if you thought Abu Simbel was amazing…

  2. The photos. Just take my breat away and all I can think is: amazing, Wow. What a great trip. Can’t wait to talk about these amazing sites. Thanks again for letting us travel with you. See you soon, love Oma

    1. Honestly, it’s even better in person. The photos don’t even begin to capture the scale and majesty! It was a lot of fun photographing and writing about these amazing temples!

  3. Sandra Campbell Avatar
    Sandra Campbell

    I really enjoyed reading your post. So interesting and your photos are excellent!
    Sandra

    1. Abu Simbel is a bit out of the way from the rest of the ‘tourist trail’, but it was so worth the trip to see this. The temples just kind of jump out at you all of a sudden. Glad you enjoyed the post!

  4. Ingrid Stevens Avatar
    Ingrid Stevens

    amazing story and beautiful pictures. Thanks for sharing this with us 🙂
    friendly greetings, Ingrid

    1. We love sharing our adventures and are so glad that you enjoyed the post. Thanks for following our blog and for your comments!

  5. Hi Oliver,
    Great Blog! Beautiful Photos! It is so amazing to see what was created in the past and how it stood the test of time! Thanks for sharing, Oliver!

    1. Hopefully this isn’t a ‘spoiler’ for you, but wait until you see my next post…there’s a connection back to Abu Simbel that you may enjoy! Stay tuned, coming soon to a computer/device screen near you!

  6. Terry Gelinas Avatar
    Terry Gelinas

    Wow – that is monumental!

    1. Terry, you have no idea! It was amazing.

      And I appreciate a good pun as well!

  7. This was the one place I never managed to visit when I went to Egypt all those years ago 🙁 I’m so gutted, as it looks like such a magical place x

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