The temples of Abu Simbel are moved

When Egypt built the Aswan High Dam in the 1960s, the rising waters of Lake Nasser threatened to drown the Nubian monuments, among them the temples of Ramesses II at Abu Simbel. After an appeal by UNESCO, a team of engineers from many countries cut the two rock temples, from 1964 to 1968, into over 1,000 blocks weighing up to 30 tonnes, and reassembled them on a hill 65 metres higher and 200 metres back from the river, at a cost of about 40 million US dollars. The rescue campaign, which saved 14 temples, led to the UNESCO World Heritage Convention of 1972.

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