Abu Simbel temples The temple was forgotten until 1813, when Swiss orientalist Jean-Louis Burckhardt found the top frieze of the main temple. Burckhardt talked about his discovery with Italian explorer Giovanni Belzoni, who travelled to the site, but was unable to dig out an entry to the temple. Belzoni returned in 1817, this time succeeding in his attempt to enter the complex. A detailed early description of the temples, together with contemporaneous line drawings, can be found in Edward William Lane's "Description of Egypt" (1825–1828). In 1959, an international donations campaign to save the monuments of Nubia began: the southernmost relics of this
Christiane Desroches Noblecourt of Nubia, but because through it the first global civilization publicly claims the world’s art as its indivisible heritage. . .There is only one action over which the indifference of stars and the eternal murmuring of rivers have no sway - it is the act by which man snatches something from death.” Fifty countries, in the middle of the Cold War, contributed funds to save the monuments now considered part of the heritage of all humanity. Philae, Kalabsha, Wadi al-Sabua, Dakka, Derr and other sites were moved, with the temples of Abu Simbel receiving the most media attention. The temple