Page 165 - DK Eyewitness Travel Guides - The World's Must-See Places

Vestibule ~ Inner
Seen es showing Ramses and Sanctuary
Neferta ri making offerings I
to Amun and Ra-Harakhty
adorn this a rea .
Relocated Temples
33-ft (1{}-m) at Abu Simbel >-
high statue In the 1960s, as Lake
ofRamses Nasser threatened to
as Osiris engulf the temples,
UNESCO cut them from
the mountain and
moved them to an
artificial cliff 688ft
(210m) back from and
213 ft (65 m) above
their original position.

The Aswan Dam,
built in 1902 to
regulate the flow
of the Nile River >-
Store Rooms
These held offerings Store rooms
to the gods and
ritual items.

Great Temple Fa~de A
~ Hypostyle Hall
The roof of this hall is supported by pillars with Inner Sanctuary>-
colossi in Osiride form-<arrying crook and flail. Ramses II sits with the gods
Those on the southern pillars wear the Upper Ra-Harakhty, Amun-Ra, and Ptah
Egypt crown, while the northern ones wear the in the Inner Sanctuary of the Great
double crown of Upper and Lower Egypt. Temple, which is shrouded in
darkness for most of the time. On
two days of the year, however, the
Sun's rays reach three of these
DAYS OF LIGHT once gold-covered stab..ies.
In ancient Egypt, the Sun was considered Battle of Qadesh >-
to be the source of all life and the temple Rei iefs inside the hypos tyle hall
was positioned to allow a shaft of show Ramses II defeating Egypt's
sun I ig ht into the Inner Sanctuary twice a enemies, including, on the right-
year~ossibly at the time of Ramses' hand wall, the defeat of the Hittites
in the Battle of Qadesh c. 1275 BC.
birthday in February and his coronation
day in October. The rays I it all but the
statue of Ptah, god of darkness. Hypostyle Hall >-

KEY DATES
1257 BC 1817 1822 1968 1979
Ramses II carves out The ~gyptobgist Jean-fran~ois The work to Abu Simbel is
the Great Temple and Giovanni Battista Champollion era:: ks reposition Abu declared a UN~SCO
Temple of Hath or. Belzoni ventures the code to decipher Simbel is completed. World Her~age Site.
inside the temples. ~gyptian hierog o/phs.