A selection of pictures of the twin temples of Abu Simbel: the great temple of Ramses II and the temple of Hathor. The great temple of Ramses II was built by the pharaoh Ramses II between 1274 and 1244 BC, carved out of a mountain facing the Nile. The temple was lost to human memory until it was discovered again in 1813. The temple of Hathor, the Egyptian goddess of love and pleasure, was dedicated by Ramses II to his wife Nefertari.
Both temples were saved from the rising waters of lake Nasser in an unprecedented international effort in the 1960's. Lake Nasser was created when the high dam of Assuan was completed in 1971.