The Abu Simbel Temple: Egypt’s Timeless Wonder and a Tribute To Global Heritage Preservation

These Words Won’t Be Enough

Abu Simbel is located in a remote town three hours away from Aswan. Our cab driver picked us up from our cruise boat on the Nile that was stationed at the Aswan harbor. Our cab was flying at 140 kilometers an hour as I fell in and out of sleep. We passed a pure, unadulterated desert with a million electric poles, a few isolated rest stops, and a few patches of green vegetation that were being irrigated as we passed by. Since Abu Simbel is very close to Sudan, about an hour away, there were a few checkpoints we had to pass along the way.

When I got down from the cab, I didn’t know what to expect. But we were glad to meet a local Abu Simbel tour guide. His name is Sayed. As I scanned my ticket and walked in, and looked up after a brief walk around the perimeter of Lake Nasser, I came across a sight to behold.

Ramesses II sits there, four times over, carved straight into a cliff, with each statue towering over you like a 40-story building. We all are chasing the impermanent, and then worry that we will be forgotten, but Ramesses II made sure his memory in history would not be subtle.

Next to it is the temple of Nefertari, his favorite wife. Her statues are the same size as his, in equal scale. That alone tells you everything you need to know about how deeply she was loved and how intentional this place was. The hieroglyphs between them say that he will love her as long as the sun rises, or something very close to that. I went, “Awwww…”

Inside, the walls of the temples tell us the stories of battles, their daily lives, and their identity as they associated themselves with the divine in any task they did.

Astronomical Wonder: The Solar Alignment

In one of the inner shrines, the sun still finds its way into the inner sanctuary, lighting up the faces of the gods and Ramesses himself, leaving Ptah, the god of darkness (to the extreme left), in shadow.

The temple’s axis was precisely engineered so that twice a year (originally October 21 and February 21, now shifted slightly to October 22 and February 22 due to the 1960s relocation), the rising sun’s rays penetrate over 55 meters into the sanctuary, creating this magic.

Those Egyptian engineers were brilliant to have executed this ancient astronomy in such perfect harmony. These dates are thought to align approximately with Ramesses’ coronation and birthday.

The Key of Life

Sayed told us one of the most amazing facts about the temple, about how it came to exist at this very spot. In the 1960s, the original temple complex was cut into massive blocks. And every stone was moved higher up the cliff. This was done to save it from flooding when the Aswan High Dam was built over Lake Nasser. Even the smaller temples that were built for Queen Nefertari and the goddess Hathor were rescued.

The entire world had come together for this effort, led by UNESCO from 1964 to 1968. That makes Abu Simbel a UNESCO World Heritage site and one of the greatest tributes of modern man to ancient Egyptian engineering brilliance and to King Ramesses II, one of the most prolific builders of Egypt, and probably in the entire world.

Please visit Abu Simbel if you get a chance. Because what will stay with you isn’t just this ancient man’s ambition to build a temple “fit for a king and queen.” It is also the modern rescue that brought the world together.

Moreover, if you visit Egypt, you might also find the Key to Life. ❤️