More than 3,000 years ago, between the first and second cataracts on the West Bank and the Nile, the Egyptian Pharaoh commanded a colossal temple, and a smaller one along with it, to be carved out of the rock. For thousands of years, the sitting figure of Ramses II watched over the Nile, till the construction of the Aswan dam threatened to drown the ancient temple under the waters of the river. In an unparalleled feat of engineering, the rock temple was taken apart and re-erected on a site sixty metres higher and further away from the Nile.

sur ce thème: Abu Simbel in the World Heritage