Inside the $400m global rush to save pharaoh temple from drowning

The article details the extraordinary international effort to save the Abu Simbel temples in Egypt from being submerged by the creation of Lake Nasser following the construction of the Aswan High Dam in the 1960s. The temples, built by Pharaoh Ramesses II around 1265 BCE, are renowned for their colossal rock-cut statues and precise solar alignment that illuminates the sanctuary twice a year. The dam’s reservoir threatened to flood the entire Nubian valley, including these culturally and historically significant monuments. In response, UNESCO launched the International Campaign to Save the Monuments of Nubia in 1960, rallying global support and funding to preserve over twenty endangered sites, with Abu Simbel as the centerpiece challenge. Engineers ultimately decided to dismantle the temples into 1,035 blocks weighing a total of 265,000 tons, then transport and reconstruct them on a new site 65 meters higher and 200 meters inland. This complex operation involved building cofferdams to hold back the rising waters