View from the side of the 4 large statues at the entrance to the Abu Simbel temple

A view of the four large statues at the entrance to the temple at Abu Simbel. There are actually twin temples, out of which you are seeing one. The primary one is dedicated to the great pharaoh Ramesses II (who built the temple approx 45 centuries back), with another one being dedicated to his chief consort (and it was very astonishing that a temple was being dedicated to his wife, since such a thing was not heard of before). The temple has these 4 huge statues at the entrance, and you can get an idea of the size of these statues from the entrance located in the lower middle, which is much below the overall height of the statues. These are truly remarkable structures, made more so from the fact that these were not the original location of the temple, it being moved up from a lower level to escape the rising waters of the river Nile due to dam being constructed at Aswan.

The Mysteries of Abu Simbel: Ramesses II	View Larger Map