0 The temples at Abu Simbel Egypt

Abu Simbel

 Abu Simbel is located in southern Egypt, about 230 km. city ​​of Aswan. In the 13th century BC Egyptian Pharaoh Ramses II, one of the greatest rulers of Egypt, built at this place two temples. Originally they were carved into the mountain as a monument of the pharaoh and his wife Nefertari after his victory at the Battle of Kadesh, and to impress the Nubians - people whose country is Nubia south of Egypt.
Already in the 6th century BC sand swallowed most of the temples. They were rediscovered in 1813 by Swiss orientalist Johann Ludwig Burkhard, and in 1968 were moved because of the danger to themselves submerged under water in the construction of the dam Nasser. Today they are an artificial hill in the western part of the dam.

Construction of temples started in 1244 BC and took about 20 years. The large temple is dedicated to the gods Amun Ra, Horus and Ptah. He is considered one of the most beautiful Egyptian temples. The facade of the temple is decorated with four twenty-foot statue of mixing, wearing double crown of Upper and Lower Egypt. The statues were carved from the rock itself, which was carved temple. Statue on the left of the entrance was damaged during the earthquake, which left only the bottom part in place and the top lying in the sand in front of the temple. Besides the four large statues and a few smaller. They depict Nefertari - Queen of Egypt and wife of Ramses, and their sons and daughters.

 Inside of the temple has the usual Egyptian temples triangular spaces, which gradually narrows from the entrance to the sanctuary located along the bottom. The first hall is 18 meters long and wide just over 16 meters, crepe eight huge columns depicting Ramses II as the god Osiris. The walls of the temple were decorated with scenes from the Battle of Kadesh, and other military victories of the Pharaoh. From the first room you pass to the smaller second hall, where they raised four columns. It enters the sanctuary, where there are four carved in the rock sculptures of Ramses and the gods Amun Ra, Horus and Ptah. It is believed that the temple is designed so that on 21 October and 21 February, 61 days before and after the winter solstice sun to penetrate the sanctuary and illuminate three of the sculptures, like that of Ptah, god of the underworld remains always in the dark. Some scientists believe that due to the displacement of the temple and the deviation of the Tropic of Cancer over the past 3280 years, two events have moved one day closer to winter solstice, and would have occurred on 22 October and 20 February.
The small temple is dedicated to the Egyptian god Hathor and Queen Nefertari. It was built a hundred yards northeast of the Great Temple. This is the second temple dedicated to the queen in the history of ancient Egypt, after the temple built by Akhenaten and Nefertiti dedicated.

The facade of the Little Church is composed of two groups of colossi carved into the rock, separated by a huge entrance. High above 10 m. statues depict the pharaoh and his queen. As in the great temple, there are also several statues of the sons and daughters of Ramses and Nefertari. Surprisingly, this is the only event in the history of Egypt, when the statue of the queen is greater than that of Pharaoh. Was common to statues of pharaohs to put statues of their queens, but they never reached above the knees of the statues of the pharaohs.
In the first room of the Little Temple built six columns. In the sanctuary of this temple is carved from the rock statue of the god Hathor, depicted as a sacred cow that comes from the mountain.
The temples at Abu Simbel are part of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage by UNESCO and one of the main tourist attractions in Egypt.