In one of my visits to Camden market I've found a family album with photographs from the 1940's. What caught my attention in this album were some pictures taken in a family trip to Egypt, where I was with my family a couple of months before.
What impressed me the most in this trip was a visit to a temple called Abu Simbel. A spectacular and imposing monument built between 1244 BC and 1224 BC, it is a temple to the greatness of Ramesses II. It consists of two constructions, The Temple of Ramesses and the Temple of Nefertari (who was his favorite wife).
I was not only amazed by the grandiosity of that ancient construction, but also by the history behind it. Lost once to the sands of the desert, Abu Simbel was almost lost for a second time when the construction of the Aswan High Dam threatened to submerge the site under the waters of Lake Nasser. The Egyptian government along with UNESCO and a team of engineers, scientists and archaeologists worked for four years to relocate the monument 200 feet from the original site. The relocation started in 1964.
Flipping through the old family album I found the photos of the Abu Simbel temple in it's original site, in the 1940's. For me, to find the photos of something that does not exist (in that place) anymore was very exiting. At the same time I really wanted to buy the album, but also was a bit scared of having a photo album of dead people in my house. It once belonged to a family, and surely they wouldn't want their album to be held by a stranger.
http://loni-perry.suite101.com/the-abu-simbel-relocation-a169338
What impressed me the most in this trip was a visit to a temple called Abu Simbel. A spectacular and imposing monument built between 1244 BC and 1224 BC, it is a temple to the greatness of Ramesses II. It consists of two constructions, The Temple of Ramesses and the Temple of Nefertari (who was his favorite wife).
I was not only amazed by the grandiosity of that ancient construction, but also by the history behind it. Lost once to the sands of the desert, Abu Simbel was almost lost for a second time when the construction of the Aswan High Dam threatened to submerge the site under the waters of Lake Nasser. The Egyptian government along with UNESCO and a team of engineers, scientists and archaeologists worked for four years to relocate the monument 200 feet from the original site. The relocation started in 1964.
Flipping through the old family album I found the photos of the Abu Simbel temple in it's original site, in the 1940's. For me, to find the photos of something that does not exist (in that place) anymore was very exiting. At the same time I really wanted to buy the album, but also was a bit scared of having a photo album of dead people in my house. It once belonged to a family, and surely they wouldn't want their album to be held by a stranger.
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