Abu Simbel
Abu Simbel is a historic site comprising two massive rock-cut temples in the village of Abu Simbel (Arabic: أبو سمبل), Aswan Governorate, Upper Egypt, near the border with Sudan. It is located on the western bank of Lake Nasser, about 230 km (140 mi) southwest of Aswan (about 300 km (190 mi) by road). The twin temples were originally carved out of the mountainside in the 13th century BC, during the 19th Dynasty reign of the Pharaoh Ramesses II. Their huge external rock relief figures of Ramesses II have become iconic. His wife, Nefertari, and children can be seen in smaller figures by his feet. Sculptures inside the Great Temple commemorate Ramesses II's heroic leadership at the Battle of Kadesh.
Shown within Egypt Abu Simbel (Northeast Africa) | |
| Location | Aswan Governorate, Egypt |
|---|---|
| Region | Nubia |
| Coordinates | 22°20′13″N 31°37′32″E |
| Type | Temple |
| History | |
| Builder | Ramesses II |
| Founded | Approximately 1264 BC |
| Periods | New Kingdom of Egypt |
| Official name | Nubian Monuments from Abu Simbel to Philae |
| Type | Cultural |
| Criteria | i, iii, vi |
| Designated | 1979 (3rd session) |
| Reference no. | 88 |
| Region | Arab States |
The complex was relocated in its entirety in 1968 to higher ground to avoid it being submerged by Lake Nasser, the Aswan Dam reservoir. As part of International Campaign to Save the Monuments of Nubia, an artificial hill was made from a domed structure to house the Abu Simbel Temples, under the supervision of a Polish archaeologist, Kazimierz Michałowski, from the Polish Centre of Mediterranean Archaeology University of Warsaw.
The Abu Simbel complex, and other relocated temples from Nubian sites such as Philae, Amada, Wadi es-Sebua, are part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site known as the Nubian Monuments.