About Abu Simbel
"... A witness turned to stone as evidence to posterity of the power of the divine pharaoh." Not only are the two temples at Abu Simbel among the most magnificent monuments in the world but their removal and reconstruction was an historic event in itself. When the temples (280 km from Aswan) were threatened by submersion in Lake Nasser, due to the construction of the High Dam, the Egyptian Government secured the support of UNESCO and launched a world-wide appeal. During the salvage operation, which began in 1964 and continued until 1968, the two temples were dismantled and raised over 60 m up the sandstone cliff where they had been built more than 3,00 years before. Here they were reassembled, in the same relationship to each other, and covered with an artificial mountain.