Before my Tour de France pilgrimage, I was posting about my trip with Viraj to Egypt so without further ado, I’m picking up where I left off!
When I told people I was heading to Egypt, the 2 responses I most commonly heard were (1) “Are you crazy?!” and (2) “Abu Simbel was my favorite!” I generally try not to have many expectations on my travels but I’ll admit, I was crossing my fingers that Abu Simbel wouldn’t disappoint.
The day started around 3 am when we left Aswan for the 300 kilometre drive towards the Egyptian-Sudanese border. Given that there wasn’t much to see on the drive other than sand and road, it was actually incredibly scenic.
Ramesses II ordered the construction of the 2 temples at Abu Simbel in the 13th century BC. The facade of the Great Temple features 4 different statues, each depicting Ramesses II, each standing an impressive 20 meters tall. Standing at the base is enough to leave you feeling wonderfully insignificant.
In addition to the central statues, there are smaller statues including Ramesses II’s main wife, his mother, and several of his oldest children.
Relief carvings show prisoners of war.
Turn your back on the Great Temple and you’ll find the (relatively) Small Temple, dedicated to Ramesses II’s main wife, Nefertari, and the goddess Hathor, wife of Ra. The 6 statues here are perhaps unfairly dwarfed by the Great Temple, but they impress in their own right.
As if these 2 temples were not remarkable enough, the entire complex does not stand today in its original location. For over 20 centuries, the temples were left to the elements and eventually forgotten. In the 1960s, Egypt built the Aswan High Dam which further threatened the already damaged temples. UNESCO spent 4 years leading an international team to move the entire complex to higher ground in order to preserve the historical site. Amazingly, the 2 temples were cut into enormous blocks weighing up to 30 tons and moved, one by one, like a 3D puzzle. The temples today are about 200 meters inland from the water.
So, yes, it would be an understatement to say Abu Simbel did not disappoint.
