The temple at Abu Simbal is a must-see when visiting Egypt.  Abu Simbal sits on the Nile (now Lake Nassar) roughly 140km south of Aswan and about 40km from the border with Sudan in the heart of Nubian Egypt.  The temple, built by Ramses II, was cut into the rock and served as a warning/reminder to the region about his might and power.  Near the main temple he also built a smaller temple to his wife Nefritari.  Both temples were relocated in the late 1960s as part of a massive undertaking to save the historical sites from the flooding that created Lake Nassar when the high dam was built in Aswan.  For me the temple held equal fascination because of its history and as the subject of an incredibly complex engineering project.  Besides the temples there is not a lot happening in Abu Simbal, the town itself is only 30,000 or so and sits on the edge of the desert.  Tourism and shipping, due to the small port that offloads cargo from further up the Nile, are the two main sources of income.  Consequently a lot of visitors bus up from Aswan, a three hour one-way trip, visit the temples, then return, making it a long, long day.  Others fly in, visit and fly out, a bit less grueling, but still a long day.  We chose the short, one hour flight, but instead of returning to Aswan after visiting the temple, our plan was to board a boat and cruise north down Lake Nassar back to Aswan— much more civilized and relaxing than the mad dash in and out that many do.

The flight got us to Abu Simbal mid-morning and after dropping our luggage off on the boat, which was moored near the temples, we walked over to explore the site.  A short video in the visitor’s center documented the process for moving the temple.  The temple was cut into 1042 massive blocks, minimizing the number in order to avoid damaging the fragile sandstone, then disassembled, moved 200 meters north-west and lifted 65 meters, and reassembled.  Because the temple was cut into the cliff face, the engineers had to build a large hill at the new site to mimic the original cliff face to contain the interior chambers and the film walks through the design and building of the complex. Not only is the engineering fascinating but also the fact that multiple nations were involved in helping Egypt save this and 17 other temples from immersion, a wonderful recognition of our shared inheritance that are the wonders of ancient Egypt!

The main temple Ramses II built to show his power and relationship to the gods.

For scale… and a better appreciation for the immensity of this temple (which was moved!!!)

The main temple is impressive with four large statues of Ramses II lining the façade.  Smaller statues at his feet represent family members and this was the first time a temple had been intact enough to retain this detail.  He built the temple to remind his distant southern subjects of his might and power and the sheer size of the temple does a great job of making one feel small.  The scenes depicted on the inner courtyard walls had the common theme of Ramses smiting his enemies, with battle scenes showing him trampling enemies beneath his chariot wheels.  The inner sanctum held four statues still intact (unlike other temples where they had been removed or defaced).  Ramses was one of the statues, sitting with three gods -Amun, Ra-Horakhty and Ptah- implying his equality with the divine.  Interestingly the temple was aligned such that on two days of the year, February 22 and October 22, the rising sun penetrates the main axis and illuminates three of the four (not Ptah, who is a god of the underworld and remains always in the dark) bathing them in light.  The skills of ancient astronomers and engineers never cease to amaze me…. We spent some time wandering through the interior chambers, looking at the scenes and playing “who is this god” (I am slowly getting better at it!) and dodging other tourists as it was quite crowded.  The temple has lot of side chambers and small shrines and it was really hard to imagine that the whole complex had been moved.

An example of one of the scenes on the temple walls showing Ramses in his chariot smiting enemies. Again, you have to be there to appreciate the scale!

Inner sanctum where Ramses sits with three gods- Ptah (for left), Osiris and Ra-Harakhty. All but Ptah were illuminated twice a year by the rising sun.

Exiting the larger temple, we walked over to visit the smaller temple, built for his wife Nefretari (not Nefrititi, who is a totally different person) and dedicated to the goddess Hathor.  Ramses II was only the second person to build a temple for his wife (the first was for Nefrititi) and unusually the statues of him and Nefratari are the same size instead of the slightly smaller depiction normally employed for wives.  Surrounding them, dotted along the main facade were smaller statues of their children. The inner temple had scenes of Nefratari with Ramses or her interacting with the gods and goddesses, and in particular Hathor.  As I have mentioned previously, Hathor, by far, was the most popular and most often depicted goddess everywhere we went.  As goddess of love, beauty, joy and maternal care, she apparently appealed to everyone, everywhere and was shown in various forms that revolved around her main aspect, the cow.  It got confusing trying to identify her from pictures alone and instead we relied on identifying her hieroglyph to pick her out in the various scenes.  Everywhere we went in Egypt, regardless of who the temples were mainly dedicated to, there was usually a small shrine to Hathor present somewhere on the grounds.

Inside the temple of Nefretari, where again, the goddess Hathor is honored– her depiction is on the column.

Exiting the temple grounds we went back to our boat and settled in our staterooms.  Unlike the dahabiya, which was small, hosting a maximum of 17 people (recall we had five!), both of the boats that offer the three day cruise from Abu Simbal to Aswan can hold around 150 people.  Our boat, a six deck ship with a sun deck containing a pool and hot tub, several lounges and a dining room for public spaces, was only about a third full.  The combination of being late in the season (the main tourist season goes from October through April) and the Iran conflict had dwindled the numbers of visitors.  Most of the passengers were European- mainly Spanish, French and German- we were the only native English speakers on board.  At dusk we headed back over to the temple to watch the sound and light show, which projected onto the face of the two temples.  My favorite part was when they simulated the sunrise phenomenon of light traveling down the main axis of Ramses’ temple.  The three gods silhouetted was very dramatic and I have no doubt made an impression on anyone who saw it.

Lake Nassar cruise ship. Only two ships offer cruises on Lake Nassar- same itinerary from Abu Simbal to Aswan, stopping at the numerous temples and tombs that were moved when the lake was created.

The cruise was very leisurely, giving us a nice chance to relax and have a different kind of experience on the Nile (Lake Nassar).  The temples and tombs we stopped to visit each day were some of the 17 that had been relocated to higher ground.  Some were in great shape, while others were more or less skeletons but nonetheless all were interesting in their own way.  Lake Nassar is huge and surrounded by desert with occasional splashes of green dotting the shores where hearty trees managed to thrive.  The area was desolate and we were totally cut off from any communications (no cell phone towers or wi-fi)- it was kind of nice!  There was a stark kind of beauty in the browns, tans, oranges and beige mosaic of colors and textures that defined the landscape and I spent a lot of time on my balcony or in the main lounge watching the world go by.  Hossam told me there was a highway about 4km to the west of the shoreline that ran down the length of the lake, so some small outposts were tucked away out of sight.  It was a harsh environment to live in with temperatures getting into the 120s in the summer (but it is a dry heat…..ha!).  Luckily the hottest weather we had, 104 deg F, was in Aswan.  The trip down Lake Nassar was quite pleasant with highs only in the 80s. After three relaxing days we found ourselves back in Aswan and headed to the airport for a flight back to Cairo.

An example of a large temple that got relocated. Many of the relocated temples were on the pilgrimage route from upper Egypt to Aswan and Luxor.

Some of the temples still had striking colors on their walls. I was constantly amazed at the sate of preservation given the age of the art (2000-4000 years old!).

Not much of this temple remained but what was left was moved. Perfect place for a photo!