Landmark Africa
Abu Simbel
Abu Simbel has two temples carved into rock in Egypt. Four giant statues of King Ramesses II sit at the door of the big one. Later, people moved both temples to keep them safe from a lake.
Abu Simbel is two temples cut into the rock by King Ramesses II of Egypt, around 1264 BCE. Four seated statues of the king, each 21 meters tall, guard the Great Temple. In the 1960s, a new dam was about to flood them, so workers cut them into more than a thousand blocks and rebuilt them higher up.
Ramesses II's Great and Small Temples at Abu Simbel, cut into a Nubian cliff in the 13th century BCE, were dismantled from 1963 to 1968 in UNESCO's International Campaign to Save the Monuments of Nubia and rebuilt 64 m higher, ahead of Lake Nasser. The rescue helped inspire the World Heritage Convention.
Photo: Olaf Tausch, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Discover Abu Simbel
Abu Simbel is in the south of Egypt, near the Nile River.
Long ago, a king named Ramesses II had two temples carved right into a cliff. In front of the big temple sit four giant statues of the king. Each one is as tall as about 12 grown-ups standing on each other's heads!
Abu Simbel is in Nubia, the land along the Nile near Egypt's southern border. Here, around 1264 BCE, King Ramesses II had two temples cut into the living rock of a cliff.
The Great Temple is famous for the four huge seated statues of the king on its front, each 21 meters tall. A smaller temple nearby honors his queen, Nefertari, and her statues on its front are the same size as his, which is very rare. Today Abu Simbel is part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site called the Nubian Monuments from Abu Simbel to Philae.
Egypt's Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities calls the Great Temple one of the most awe-inspiring monuments of Egypt, cut into the living rock by Ramesses II of the Nineteenth Dynasty around 1264 BCE. Its facade is dominated by four seated colossi, 21 m tall according to UNESCO. To the north, the Small Temple was dedicated to Ramesses's Great Royal Wife, Queen Nefertari; on its facade her colossi match the king's in size, a rare display.
Abu Simbel is one of ten components of UNESCO's serial property, Nubian Monuments from Abu Simbel to Philae, inscribed in 1979 and covering 374.48 ha. UNESCO counts the temples, carved out of the rock by order of Ramesses II, among masterpieces of the human creative spirit.
- Where
- Nubia, near Egypt's southern border, Aswan Governorate
- Built
- around 1264 BCE, by Ramesses II
- Front statues
- four seated colossi, 21 m tall
- World Heritage Site
- since 1979 (Nubian Monuments)
A temple in danger
For more than 3,000 years, the temples stood beside the Nile.
Then Egypt built a giant dam. A huge lake would cover the temples. People from many countries worked together to save them.
The temples stood beside the Nile for more than 3,000 years. In 1959, Egypt was building the Aswan High Dam to help its farms and make electricity. The lake behind the dam, Lake Nasser, would drown Abu Simbel and many other monuments.
Egypt and its neighbor Sudan asked UNESCO for help. In 1960, UNESCO launched an international campaign to save the monuments of Nubia. Countries all over the world gave money and experts. From 1960 to 1980, 22 monuments and groups of buildings were saved, and Abu Simbel and Philae were among the massive temples that were moved.
UNESCO's account begins in 1959: the Aswan High Dam, needed to boost agriculture and power supply, would create a reservoir drowning the area's monuments. After an appeal from Egypt and Sudan, the International Campaign to Save the Monuments of Nubia was launched at UNESCO on 8 March 1960. André Malraux, France's culture minister, hailed the appeal as the first time a world civilization had proclaimed the world's art its indivisible heritage.
Some 30 countries formed national committees. Between 1960 and 1980, 40 technical missions from five continents saved 22 monuments and complexes; the campaign cost US$80 million, half of it donated by some 50 countries. UNESCO credits the Nubian campaign with spurring the World Heritage Convention of 1972 and later safeguarding campaigns in Italy, Pakistan and Indonesia.
Cutting a temple into pieces
To move the temples, workers cut them into more than a thousand giant blocks.
Each block weighed about 30 tons. They put the blocks back together higher up, away from the water.
Lake Nasser was filling fast, so there was no time to lose. In November 1963, workers began slicing the temples apart with wire saws. More than a thousand blocks, each weighing about 30 tons, were numbered and stored.
Then the blocks were put back together like a giant puzzle inside a specially built artificial cliff, 64 meters higher than the old site and 180 meters farther from the river. The temples opened in their new home on 22 September 1968.
UNESCO's experts, hydrologists, engineers, archaeologists and architects, settled on a radical plan: dismantle, move to higher ground and reassemble. With Lake Nasser rising, workers began cutting the temples with wire saws in November 1963. More than a thousand blocks of some 30 tons each were numbered, stored and reassembled within a purpose-built artificial cliff 64 m above the original site and 180 m inland. Abu Simbel was inaugurated in its new location on 22 September 1968.
The Ministry notes that the Great Temple was built with such precision that on two days a year, which it gives as 22 February and 22 October, sunlight entering the doorway crosses the main hall and lights the statues in the innermost room; UNESCO's description places the two days at the equinoxes.
Inside the Great Temple
One giant statue broke long ago in an earthquake. Its pieces still lie on the ground.
Inside, a long hall leads deep into the rock. Two days a year, sunshine reaches all the way to the back!
Look closely at the four giant statues: one of them broke in an ancient earthquake, and its pieces still lie on the ground in front. Through the doorway, a main hall lined with standing statues of the king leads deep into the rock to the sanctuary, a room at the back with four seated statues.
The temple was planned so carefully that on two days each year, sunlight shines through the door, across the hall, and lights up the statues in that innermost room.
One of the four facade colossi collapsed in an ancient earthquake, and its fragments remain on the ground. Inside, colossal standing statues of the king line the main hall, which leads to a sanctuary with four seated statues, one of them representing Ramesses II, according to the Ministry.
UNESCO notes that the temple's design and layout let the sun's rays reach this innermost chamber twice a year. UNESCO also notes the antiquity of the wider region: the Nubian monuments range from the New Kingdom to the Ptolemaic and Roman periods, and Aswan, north of the first cataract, was ancient Egypt's border town and base for activity to the south.
- Blocks moved
- more than 1,000, about 30 tons each
- New position
- 64 m higher, 180 m inland
- Reopened
- 22 September 1968
- Sunlight reaches the sanctuary
- two days a year
Visiting Abu Simbel today
Today, visitors walk along a path to the temples.
On the two special sunshine days, many people come early to watch the light reach inside.
Today Abu Simbel stands in its rebuilt cliff, high above where it was first carved. Visitors can walk up to the giant statues and into the halls.
On 22 February and 22 October, when sunlight reaches the inner room, Egypt's Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities sets special ticket prices for those days. The rescue of Abu Simbel showed that countries could work together to protect treasures from the past.
The Ministry lists the site as open daily and sets separate ticket prices for 22 February and 22 October, the days of the solar illumination. UNESCO presents the Nubian campaign as a turning point that set a new standard for reconciling modern development with heritage protection.
The rest of the World Heritage property includes the temples of Amada, Wadi Sebua and Kalabsha, Philae on Agilkia Island (moved between 1972 and 1979), the Aswan quarries with their unfinished obelisk, the tombs of Qubbet el-Hawa, Elephantine and the Monastery of St. Simeon.
Amazing facts
-
The queen's statues are as big as the king's.
On the front of the Small Temple, Queen Nefertari's statues are the same size as King Ramesses II's, which is very rare.
The Ministry calls the equal-sized colossi of Nefertari and Ramesses on the Small Temple a very rare example of such a display.
-
Workers used wire saws to cut the temples.
In November 1963, workers began slicing the temples into blocks with wire saws.
Wire-saw cutting began in November 1963, with Lake Nasser already filling fast.
-
Saving Abu Simbel helped start the World Heritage list.
The rescue of Abu Simbel and other Nubian temples helped lead to the World Heritage Convention, which protects special places around the world.
UNESCO credits the Nubian campaign with spurring the World Heritage Convention and later campaigns in Italy, Pakistan and Indonesia.
-
Half the money came from about 50 countries.
Saving the Nubian monuments cost US$80 million, and about half was given by some 50 countries.
Total cost was US$80 million, half donated by some 50 countries; about 30 countries formed national support committees.
Words to know
- temple
- a building used for worship
- colossus
- a gigantic statue
- pharaoh
- a king of ancient Egypt
- dam
- a wall built across a river to hold back water
- reservoir
- a large lake made by people to store water
- rock-cut
- carved directly out of solid rock instead of built from blocks
Discovery challenge
-
Which king had the Abu Simbel temples carved?
Which king had the temples of Abu Simbel cut into the rock?
Which Nineteenth Dynasty king ordered the temples of Abu Simbel?
- Ramesses II
- Tutankhamun
- Alexander the Great
Show the answer
Ramesses II
Ramesses II! Four giant statues of him sit in front.
Ramesses II, around 1264 BCE.
Ramesses II, around 1264 BCE, according to Egypt's Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities.
-
Why did people move the temples?
Why were the temples of Abu Simbel moved in the 1960s?
What threatened Abu Simbel and led to the Nubian campaign?
- A new lake would cover them
- A volcano erupted
- People wanted them closer to a city
Show the answer
A new lake would cover them
A big new lake would have covered them!
Lake Nasser, behind the new Aswan High Dam, would have flooded them.
The reservoir of the Aswan High Dam, Lake Nasser.
-
How were the temples moved?
How did workers move the temples?
What method did UNESCO's experts choose to save the temples?
- Cut into blocks and rebuilt higher up
- Rolled on logs in one piece
- Floated on a boat
Show the answer
Cut into blocks and rebuilt higher up
They cut them into big blocks and put them back together higher up.
They cut them into more than 1,000 blocks and rebuilt them 64 meters higher.
Dismantling into blocks of about 30 t, then reassembly in an artificial cliff 64 m higher.
-
What lights up the statues deep inside, two days a year?
What reaches the innermost statues on two days each year?
What enters the sanctuary twice a year because of the temple's alignment?
- Sunlight
- Rain
- River water
Show the answer
Sunlight
Sunlight! It shines all the way to the back.
Sunlight, which crosses the whole hall to the inner room.
The sun's rays, on 22 February and 22 October by the Ministry's dates.
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Aswan High Dam
The Aswan High Dam crosses the Nile River in southern Egypt. Finished in 1970, it is 111 meters high and 3,830 meters long. It controls the Nile's yearly flood, stores water for farms, makes electricity and created a huge reservoir, Lake Nasser. Ancient temples had to be moved to save them from the rising water.
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Great Pyramid of Giza
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Natural wonder
Nile
The Nile flows north through northeastern Africa to the Mediterranean Sea, and its basin is shared by 11 countries. Its length is usually given as about 6,650 kilometers. Two great branches, the White Nile and the Blue Nile, meet at Khartoum in Sudan, and the green strip of farmland along its banks made it the lifeline of ancient Egypt.
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Watch
Landmark
Egyptian pyramids
Egypt's pyramids were giant stone tombs for kings. They did not start out pointed: the first, King Djoser's Step Pyramid, was a stack of six giant steps. King Snefru's builders tried again and again, making the Bent Pyramid and then the Red Pyramid, the first planned true pyramid. Soon after came the great pyramids of Giza.
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Watch
Landmark
Giza pyramid complex
The Giza pyramid complex is a group of ancient tombs on a rocky plateau beside the Nile River in Egypt. Three kings from one family, Khufu, his son Khafre and his grandson Menkaure, built huge pyramids there about 4,500 years ago. Around them are temples, small pyramids for queens, rows of tombs for nobles, the Great Sphinx and even the town where the builders lived.
For parents & teachers
What children will learn
- Locate Abu Simbel in southern Egypt and describe the two rock-cut temples of Ramesses II.
- Explain why the Aswan High Dam put the temples in danger.
- Describe how the temples were cut into blocks and rebuilt higher up.
- Explain how this rescue helped lead to the idea of World Heritage.
Recommended ages: 3 to 17 · About 15 minutes
Talk about it
- The dam brought water for farms and electricity, but it would have flooded ancient temples. How should people decide between progress and protecting the past?
- About 50 countries helped pay to save temples in another country. Why might they want to do that?
- Is a temple that has been cut up and moved still the same temple? Why or why not?
Try at home or in class
- Build a small 'temple' from building blocks, number every block, take it apart and rebuild it on a higher shelf.
- In a dark room, shine a flashlight through a small doorway in a shoebox and find the angle that lights the back wall.
Key vocabulary: temple, colossus, pharaoh, dam, reservoir, rock-cut
Where these facts come from
- Wikidata , Wikimedia Foundation (CC0 1.0)
- UNESCO World Heritage List , UNESCO World Heritage Centre (Linked as a reference; site facts come from Wikidata)
- Nubian Monuments from Abu Simbel to Philae , UNESCO World Heritage Centre
- Working Together: Abu Simbel , UNESCO World Heritage Centre
- Abu Simbel , Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities, Egypt
- Wikimedia Commons , Wikimedia Foundation (Per file (public domain, CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA); see each media record)
Checked, not yet human-reviewed. Last updated October 27, 2026. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.