Abu Simbel cut apart and rebuilt on higher ground
Between 1964 and 1968 the temples of Ramesses II and Nefertari were sawn into numbered blocks, lifted some sixty metres, and reassembled inside an artificial hill above the new shoreline of Lake Nasser. Work at Abu Simbel ended on 22 September 1968. The engineering is the part everyone remembers; the precedent is the part that mattered — an international consortium paying to move a national monument, with no treaty obliging anyone to do so.
Historical — it happened, and the record is settled.
Subjects
Evidence
Partly verified — Core facts are sourced; some optional detail is deliberately absent.
International Campaign to Save the Monuments of Nubia — library and archival resources
Egypt and Sudan requested UNESCO assistance in 1959; the Director-General launched an international appeal in 1960; the campaign relocated 22 monuments in Lower Nubia, closed on 10 March 1980, and is credited with prompting the 'World Heritage Trust' concept and ultimately the 1972 Convention. ALSO: Engineers dismantled and re-erected the Abu Simbel temples on higher ground between 1964 and 1968, with work concluding on 22 September 1968, in response to the reservoir created by the Aswan High Dam.
ICCROM (International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property); with SARAT (Safeguarding Archaeological Assets of Türkiye) project resources · campaign 1960–1980; resource compilation undated · Partly verified
https://www.iccrom.org/resources/resources-of-the-month/iccrom-library-resources-safeguarding-nubian-monuments — ICCROM library resources on the safeguarding of the Nubian monuments | also: https://saratprojesi.com/en/resources/sarats-features/a-salvage-operation-that-inspired-the-world-abu-simbel-and-the-world-heritage
Recorded on Abu Simbel temples (Nubian Monuments from Abu Simbel to Philae)
- International Campaign to Save the Monuments of Nubia
- Abu Simbel cut apart and rebuilt on higher ground
Related
Related because they share a subject in the Atlas — never because the text looks similar.
- International Campaign to Save the Monuments of Nubia · 1960-03/1980-03-10