Abu Simbel : Everything You Need To Know Before You Go

View our Playlist

A Little Back History of Abu Simbel

Sitting on the bank of Lake Nasser is one of Egypt’s most striking monuments, the twin temples of Abu Simbel. Built with the aid of Ramesses II over 3,000 years ago, these temples have stood the test of time. The story in the back of Abu Simbel becomes even more fascinating when you examine that the complete complicated used to be dismantled and relocated to greater ground, during the construction of the Aswan High Dam.

Traveling To Abu Simbel

To get here, you can plan a day out from both Aswan or Cairo. Travel times can be lengthy (if you tour by using land) or high priced (if you journey by way of air), so is it really worth it? Absolutely! The temples of Abu Simbel are some of most spectacular and unique temples you will see in Egypt, so it is nicely really worth the visit.

Four massive statues of Ramesses II greet you upon your entrance. Sitting next to and between the legs of Ramesses are members of the royal family, including his wife Nefertari, sons, daughters, and his mother. The broken statue was damaged from an earthquake.

INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT ABU SIMBEL

The temples of Abu Simbel developed over 3,000 years ago by means of Ramesses II, one of the most effective rulers of ancient Egypt.

The Great Temple of Abu Simbel is devoted to the gods Amon-Ra, Ra-Harakhti, and Ptah, additionally erected to exhibit the might of the Egyptian empire and for the eternal glorification of Ramesses II.

The Small Temple is dedicated to Queen Nefertari, the liked and favored spouse of Ramesses II (he had eight other halves and, depending on the source, as many as 200 children).

Construction of Abu Simbel

Construction of the two temples took twenty years and was once completed in 1244 BC. Over time, the temples had been forgotten and slowly included with sand. In 1813, Jean-Louis Burckhardt rediscovered the temple, finding the top frieze of the Great Temple. Four years later, Giovanni Battista Belzoni managed to put off some of the sand and discover the entrance into the temple. Once the sand was once cleared away, this became a traveller destination, attracting site visitors even at the cease of the 19th century.

With the construction of the Aswan High Dam, rising water levels threatened to flood the temples of Abu Simbel. In the 1960’s, the whole complex used to be dismantled, moved to higher ground, and definitely reconstructed. It took the blended effort of over 50 international locations and 5 years of work to keep the temples.

When you stand in front of the temple, and when you go inner of it, it is hard to think about that the complete complicated once sat at a exclusive location.

WHERE IS ABU SIMBEL?

Abu Simbel is positioned 300 kilometers south of Aswan and simply 20 kilometers north of the border with Sudan. It sits on the western bank of Lake Nasser in a a area referred to as Nubia. Nubia is a giant area alongside the Nile River that spans southern Egypt and northern Sudan.

HOW TO GET TO ABU SIMBEL

To visit Abu Simbel, you can do so either on a day time out from Aswan or when flying between Cairo and Aswan.
There are three methods to get to Abu Simbel. Air travel, driving and arriving by boat cruise.

Abu Simbel Tour
Visiting the Temples of Abu Simbel

Aswan to Abu simbel – Your magical journey to Abu Simbel commonly begins in the early morning when your expert tour guide picks you up from your inn in Aswan and drives to the south of Aswan which is round 3hrs drive to experience Abu Simbel’s day tour from Aswan by way of a PRIVATE air-conditioned vehicle.

There Are Two Temples

The two Temples of Abu Simbel, with their unique style, are viewed to be the masterpieces of historic Egypt as they replicate the glory and grandeur of the new Kingdom. The Egyptian government and UNESCO decided to co-operate in order to save these temples from the flood. The Temple of Ramses II used to be committed to the four universal gods Ptah, Re-Her-Akhtey, Amun-Re, and to Ramesses II himself. The gorgeous Abu Simbel temple is additionally referred to as The Sun Temple of Ramses II. The Temple of Queen Nefertari is also Called the Temple of Hathor who was once the spouse of the Sun God so in a symbolic way, the two Temples, that of Ramesses II and that of Nefertari, convey Ramesses II, Nefertari, Hathor, and the Sun God collectively as one.

Ramses II initially reduce the two temples into the facet of a mountain, now domed through an synthetic mountain to resemble the unique site. The Great Temple was constructed, so that the rising sun shone between the four statues of Ramses and into the internal recesses of the sanctuary on both February 22nd and October 22nd. Modern engineers spent a full yr calculating the new placement of the temple to reproduce this miracle. Today, on those dates every year, the sun rays illuminate the holy statues for 20 minutes.
The big job took 4 years to be completed, between 1964-1968. Abu Simbel Tours remains one of Egypt’s pinnacle vacationer attractions after the pyramids of Giza. After finished, switch back to your hotel in Aswan.