Why were the Abu Simbel temples moved?
Mountain Jigsaw Puzzle
Why were the Abu Simbel temples moved?
In the 1960s, Egypt had a problem. They were building a huge dam on the Nile River to bring water and electricity to millions of people — a wonderful plan. But the dam would create a giant lake. And sitting right in the path of that lake were two temples carved into a mountain 3,000 years ago by Pharaoh Ramesses II.
These weren't ordinary temples. Abu Simbel was a mountain that had been turned inside-out. Ancient workers had chipped away millions of tons of rock to carve four giant statues of Ramesses — each one 65 feet tall — and then tunneled deep inside to hollow out rooms covered in paintings and more statues. If the lake rose, all of it would drown under 200 feet of water.
