"Abu Simbel--Warning Sign to the Nubian... " a Temple of Abu Simbel Travel Page by atufft

There are other places to read in detail about the modern engineering feat to relocate Abu Simbel from it's original location along the upper Nile River. In it's original location, relatively few Egyptian monuments were placed further south into Nubia and the Sudan. Thus, from it's design, Abu Simbel appears to be the for the ancient traveler the first major monument found if sailing downstream from the Sudan. For those black tribesman bringing gifts to the pharoah, Abu Simbel must have appeared even more awesome than it does to the tourist today.

The huge seated statues of Rameses, and the constant reminders carved into the reliefs of Ramses power to punish his enemies, must have been a symbol of power in ancient times. When Belzoni and others found it, sand filled halfway up the interior pillars.

While many of the temples are placed according to the stars, sun, and moon, Abu Simbel is one of those few that is oriented so that sunlight reaches through to the furthest interior room. When we departed Aswan in the early morning of January, 1997, concerns about desert assaults on tourists lingered as the Egyptian army cued up vehicles, large and small, for a convoy run across the desert. The desert seemed bleak enough in the trip out, but at Abu Simbel, a considerable army of tourists arrived ready to appreciate the stone artwork.