Tourist admiring some of the statues at the foot of the Abu Simbel temple in Egypt

A view of a tourist at the base of the smaller statues and sculptures at the Abu Simbel temple in lower Egypt. The temple of Abu Simbel was built fairly distant from Aswan, around 280 km, along the river Nile. The temple was built by the pharaoh Ramesses II as a measure of the magnificence of his rule, and also meant to be a grand warning to visitors from Sudan to the south, so that they realize the grandeur of his rule.
In the 1960's, there was a huge effort to move the temple from its original location to the current location, in order that the rise in waters due to the construction of the dam on the Nile at Aswan does not drown the temple.

The Mysteries of Abu Simbel: Ramesses II	View Larger Map

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