Abu Simbel: A Short Guide to the Temples - Abu Simbel, Egypt - There's a Book About It on Waymarking.com

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. They serve as a lasting monument to the king Ramesses II. His wife Nefertari and children can be seen in smaller figures by his feet, considered to be of lesser importance and were not given the same position of scale. This commemorates his victory at the Battle of Kadesh. Their huge external rock relief figures have become iconic.

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 Michalowski, from the Polish Centre of Mediterranean Archaeology University of Warsaw.

Today, a few hundred tourists visit the temples daily. Most visitors arrive by road from Aswan, the nearest city. Others arrive by plane at an airfield that was specially constructed for the temple complex.

Our default photo shows 4 colossal statues representing Ramesses II himself on the facade of the Great Temple. The head of the second statue from the left is broken off and laying on the ground in front of the statue. This happened during an earthquake just after the temple was completed. On the facade of the Small Temple one can see 4 statues of Ramesses II and 2 statues of Nefertari (4th and 5th pictures).

Source: Wikipedia (visit link)

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Title of the book: Abu Simbel: A Short Guide to the Temples
Author: Nigel Fletcher-Jones

The three-thousand-year-old rock-cut temples at Abu Simbel and the story of their rescue from the rising waters of Lake Nasser in the 1960s are almost as familiar worldwide as the tale of the gold funerary mask and brief life of the boy king Tutankhamun. Yet although they are among the most celebrated, visited, and photographed archaeological sites in the world, the two temples are among the least understood by the visitor.

In this lucidly written, beautifully illustrated guide, Nigel Fletcher-Jones explains the main features of both temples, discusses what they teach us about ancient Egypt during the reign of Rameses II (1265–1200 BC), and illustrates which gods and goddesses were worshipped here.

With over 50 new photographs, drawings, and diagrams, and packed with fascinating insights, Abu Simbel: A Short Guide to the Temples is an indispensable companion and souvenir to one of the world’s great archaeological sites. (visit link)

ISBN Number: 9774169700 Author(s): Nigel Fletcher-Jones

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