Lifestyle > Train of Thought
where in egypt is this ?
Trauma-san:
Let me just blow this entire post the fuck up.
That's the legendary temple of Abu Simbel, as you can see it's incredibly beautiful. There's two things of note though that nobody's mentioned yet that are really phenomenal.
First, the temple was designed of course by the Ancient Egyptians, in name, the temple is the result of the vision of Ramses the II. Ramses the II is probably the pharoah that is mentioned in the bible, and is called the Great Ramses, because of the incredible work he did in his life. He lived a very long life, and built many, many temples and buildings, etc. With the exception of the pyramids and the Sphinx, most of the famous landmarks in Egypt that you're aware of can be linked to Ramses II.
When Ramses designed the temple, he designed it so that there is a long tunnel reaching into the mountain it's carved into. At the end of this tunnel, is a stone bench. Seated on the stone bench are 3 gods... the last god is the God of Darkness. Sitting next to him is a statue of Ramses himself. The tunnel and the entire fucking temple were built and situated in such a way, that twice a year, on the longest days of the year, the morning sun would pierce the temple, shoot down the hallway, and in sequential order illuminate 3 of the statues, leaving only the God of Darkness in the shadows.
In the 50's, it became evident that the great temple of Abu Simbel was going to be flooded by the Nile river. A massive plan was put forth by the egyptian government to save the temple, and the entire temple that you're looking at was carved into blocks weighing several tons each... the blocks were all dissasembled, along with a portion of the mountain, and the entire structure was moved to higher ground. A false mountain was constructed of steel, and the temple was reconstructed on top of the steel structure, saving the entire temple from the Nile. The picture above shows the fully flooded Nile river stopping just short of the temple's original location.
They weren't able to position the temple so that the light trick would work, so the tunnel no longer does anything special on the two longest days of the year. Look really close, and you'll see the cuts where the statues and such were dissasembled. One of the greatest engineering feats ever undertaken.
Trauma-san:
The temple Ramses built next to it, for his wife!
Kassem:
wow man i even didn't know that
coola:
that is insane.
Sikotic™:
That place it beautiful
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