Abu Simbel temples one of the greatest challenges of archaeological engineering in history. Some structures were even saved from under the waters of Lake Nasser. Today, a few hundred tourists visit the temples daily. Guarded convoys of buses and cars depart twice a day from Aswan, the nearest city. Many visitors also arrive by plane at an airfield that was specially constructed for the temple complex. The complex consists of two temples. The larger one is dedicated to Ra-Harakhty, Ptah and Amun, Egypt's three state deities of the time, and features four large statues of Ramesses II in the facade. The smaller temple
Great and Small Temples of Abu Simbel is roughly on an East-West axis. However, it is slightly off this axis in order to accommodate for this phenomenon. For about twenty minutes every February 22 and October 22, the sun shined through the temple to light up the statues of the gods in the sanctuaries. Some people suggest that these dates correspond to the birth and coronation of Ramesses II. The Small Temple at Abu Simbel was dedicated to the goddess Hathor of Ibshek, the ancient name for an area in present-day Sudan more commonly called Faras (although it is now submerged under Lake Nasser). The Small Temple