These temples were re-discovered in the 1800s and were built by King Ramesses II. There are two temples - one is dedicated to himself and the other was for his most loved wife, Queen Nefertari (he had 4 wives and 30 concubines). They are famous because a great effort was made to save these temples from being flooded when the Aswan High Dam was built in the 1960's. It took four years and the cooperation of 10 countries to cut up these temples and their surroundings and move them to a higher position. This was a major feat as the temples were completely carved into the side of mountains. 9 other temples were moved at the same time as this, however Abu Simbel is by far the most famous. Unfortunately there were over 90 more temples which were not moved and have been lost forever under the waters of Lake Nasser.
An interesting thing which shows the skill of the ancient egyptian engineers is that twice a year on Feb. and Oct. 21st , the anniversaries of the king's birthday and coronation, for 20 minutes the sun would shine right through the main temple into the inner sanctuary where it would light up three out of the four statues there. The fourth statue was of the god of darkness and hence remained unlit. When the temple was moved 200m higher, the modern egyptian engineers were unable to keep this phenomenon exactly the same. Now the sun shines in on the 22nd instead!
The front of the temple has four representations of Ramesses II. On the left he is youngest and on the right he is an old man. The second colossus was destroyed by an earthquake many years ago. When the temple was moved, even these pieces were placed in the exactly the same position as they fell.
Apparently the cost of entry visas into Egypt are still going towards the paying off of moving these temples.
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