A great journey for resettlement – the relocation of the Abu Simbel Temple
The Abu Simbel temples, a part of Nubian Monuments, locating in southern Egypt and on the western bank of the Nile. During the 19th dynasty, Ramesses II reigned the region. The surface of the mountain was carved in the shape of four rock relief figures of Ramesses II to show his great success and deify himself.
Due to needs of agricultural and infrastructure improvement, one of the world's largest embankment dams – the Aswan Dam, was built between 1960 and 1970 across the Nile in Aswan.
However, the construction of the dam rang the alarm. The settlement of the high dam would cause the rising water level of the Nile, hence many of heritage sites near it, including Abu Simbel, would be threatened with drowning. Under the leadership of UNESCO, 113 countries around the world extended a helping hand, providing Egypt with human resources, funding, and technology to save this significant heritage site.
Through brainstorms among experts and engineers, a huge but a little bit horrible plan was come up eventually – to relocate the whole temples, even including surrounding stones. In 1963, humankind stepped in a great journey. To avoid making the facade of the temple looking like a cheeseboard, engineers tailored each cut to minimize the damage (Figure 3&4). Then, the Abu Simbel temples were cut into over a thousand blocks each weighing up to 30 tons for the big move.
Figure 3. Engineers tailored each cut for lowering damages (external)
Figure 4. Engineers tailored each cut for decreasing damages (internal)
They built a temporary barrier to hold back to the flooding Nile and started moving the top rock of the temple to reach the underground of it. 500 men spent months cutting the entire temple by using chainsaws which was an extremely back-breaking work (Figure 5), meanwhile, other workers took care of the colossal statues which they used bandages to cover every cut line to avoid collapsing during the transport.
Figure 5. Workers used chainsaws to cut the mountain
Figure 6. Workers were covering the cut line using protective bandages
The heaviest and most precious blocks to be rescued were the heads of Ramsses II, weighing 30 tons and carved almost 20 meters up into the mountain itself. The engineers wanted to make as few cuts as possible and gave them a well treatment to keep the original.
Figure 7. The relocation of the heads of Ramsses II
The most interesting one is the re-settlement of the innermost part of the simple. Twice a year, in February and October, the sun’s rays shine the 60 feet deep hall which at other times is in darkness through the narrow entrance of the simple. During those periods of time, the images of two gods -- Ra-Horakhty and Amun-Ra, moreover, the deified Ramsses II are illuminated but the statue of Ptah remains in the shadow (Figure 8). The engineers calculated carefully before the relocation to maintain the biannual miracle of sunlight.
Figure 8. The unique spectacle in the innermost hall
In 1968, the Abu Simbel temples were inaugurated in its new location. When the sunlight crossed the long entrance and lighted the statues, Ramsses II and the whole Abu Simbel were back to life again. It's not only a milestone of preserving an ancient civilization but also a great achievement made by cooperation of people from all over the world.
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