Site of two temples built by Ramses II in the 13th century BC.
The area, at the southern frontier of pharaonic Egypt, lies near Egypt's current border with The Sudan . The temples were unknown to the outside world until their rediscovery in 1813. The larger temple displays four 67-ft (20-m) seated figures of Ramses; the smaller was dedicated to Queen Nefertari. When the reservoir created by the building of Asw 0101; n High Dam threatened to submerge the site in the early 1960s, an international team disassembled both temples and reconstructed them 200 ft (60 m) above the riverbed.
Sandstone figures of Ramses II in front of the main temple at Abu Simbel near Asw 0101; n, Egypt.
By courtesy of Air France