Great and Small Temples of Abu Simbel one of the greatest pharaohs of Ancient Egypt. He ruled for 67 years during the 19th dynasty and spent much of the time trying to secure the borders of the kingdom. During his reign, Ramesses II embarked on an extensive building program throughout the country. Although his capital was in the Nile Delta, he did not neglect the southern border at Nubia, a land very important to the Egyptians because it was a source of gold and many other precious trade goods. He therefore built several grand temples there in order to impress upon the Nubians Egypt’s might and Egyptianize
Abu Simbel temples ancient human civilization were under threat from the rising waters of the Nile that were about to result from the construction of the Aswan High Dam. One scheme to save the temples was based on an idea by William MacQuitty to build a clear fresh water dam around the temples, with the water inside kept at the same height as the Nile. There were to be underwater viewing chambers. In 1962 the idea was made into a proposal by architects Jane Drew and Maxwell Fry and civil engineer Ove Arup. They considered that raising the temples ignored the effect of