This site formed as twin temples that contain of many statues that patched on the side of temples and also on the pillar. These temple were carved out of the mountainside during the reign of Pharaoh Ramesses II in the 13th century BC, as a lasting monument to himself and his queen Nefertari, to commemorate his alleged victory at the Battle of Kadesh, and to intimidate his Nubian neighbors. However, the complex was relocated in its entirety in the 1960s, on an artificial hill made from a domed structure, high above the Aswan High Dam reservoir.
The relocation of the temples was necessary to avoid their being submerged during the creation of Lake Nasser, the massive artificial water reservoir formed after the building of the Aswan High Dam on the Nile River. Abu Simbel remains one of Egypt's top tourist attractions.
There are two kind of temples. The Great temple and other small temple. The great temple was built and dedicated to the gods Amun, Ra-Horakhty, and Ptah. There are colossal statues with Ramesses II face . these statues were sculpture directly from the rock . All statues represent Ramesses II, seated on a throne and wearing the double crown of Upper and Lower Egypt.
The small temples was also called as The temple of Hathor and Nefertari, was built about one hundred meters northeast of the temple of Ramesses II and was dedicated to the goddess Hathor and Ramesses II's chief consort, Nefertari. the statues, slightly more than ten meters high, are of the king and his queen. On the other side of the portal are two statues of the king, wearing the white crown of Upper Egypt and the double crown . these are flanked by statues of the queen and the king. What is truly surprising is that for the only time in Egyptian art, the statues of the king and his consort are equal in size.
1 comments:
I don't know about Abu Simble before until I read this post. Thanks for sharing.
January 19, 2010 at 4:04 PMPost a Comment