The Great Temple of Abu Simbel

This is the great temple of Abu Simbel, dedicated to the glory of pharao Ramses II. Though the temple is officially dedicated to the triad Amon-Ra, Ptah and Ra-Harakhte, its front is dominated by four gigantic statues of the great pharaoh himself. He had this temple built in this otherwise desolate area on the actual site of a much older shrine of a local personification of the god Horus.

The colossi of the king, wearing the characteristic nemes headcloth and double crown (of upper and lower Egypt), are each 20 metres high, while the facade is more than 35 metres wide and 30 metres high. The king is accompanied by some of his wives, sons and daughters who appear in much smaller size beside his legs. Right above the entrance stands a figure of the god Re-Harakhte in a small niche. The top of the facade is crowned by a row of baboons.

The central entrance leads into a large hall with massive pillars fronted by Osiris figures of the king. The temple's orientation is arranged in such a way that twice every year on 22 February and 22 October the earliest sun-rays shine on the back wall of the innermost chamber, thus illuminating the statues of the four gods seated there.

If you click on the heads of these statues, or on the central niche and statue (above the entrance) of the god Ra-Harakhte, you will get to see more detailed photographs. If you click on the entrance you will go inside. A map of the temple is also available.

The purpose of this clickable image is to show what the WWW can mean to the opening up of historical monuments by electronic means and electronic networking. Is also aims to show what good bitmaps are about. It simply hurts me to see there are too many low-quality bitmaps available on the WWW...!