Surana Singh is Professor of Art History at East Los Angeles College, where she has been teaching since 2004. She completed her B.A. in Art History and Visual Culture at U.C. Santa Cruz and completed her Master’s degree in Theory, Criticism, and History of Art, Design, and Architecture at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York. Currently, she is working on her Ph.D. in Cultural Studies and Media Studies at Claremont Graduate University. Her research interests are in: Visual Cultural Studies; Global Contemporary Art; Modern European Art; and, Asian Visual Culture.
For the fall 2017 issue of The Public Intellectual, Wendy Leiko Stockstill, Adjunct Assistant Professor of Art History at East Los Angeles College, has written the article “Rescuing the Temple of Ramses II at Abu Simbel,” based on her December 2012 trip to Egypt. Wendy has been teaching at ELAC since 2009 and also teaches at City College and Mission College, as well as other colleges in the greater Los Angeles area. Wendy continues to research and travel to destinations that she lectures on in her art history courses, including recent trips to India and Nepal in 2014, and Peru in June 2017.
_______________________________
Rescuing the Temple of Ramses II at Abu Simbel Wendy Leiko Stockstill
_______________________________
In December of 2012 I traveled back in time to explore the important historical sites of ancient Egypt - a place where the mighty pharaoh’s once ruled building temples dedicated to themselves and to their god’s. Today, when most people hear the word Egypt, they usually think of King Tutankhamun, the pyramids of Giza and, of course, mummies. The history of ancient Egypt can be explored by examining the building programs of the ruling pharaohs. Each pharaoh built a temple to commemorate his or her reign. These temples were designed on a vertical axis so that people could see directly into the inner sanctuary from the entrance. Of course, only the pharaoh and the high priests were allowed to enter this sacred area. One of the most remarkable temple’s was built by Ramses II (ruled 1270 - 1213). He was an extraordinary ruler with substantial military prowess. Ramses II ruled Egypt for sixty-seven years and the glory of his empire can be seen on his temple.
Abu Simbel is located in a remote area along the Nile River. It was here that Ramses II built two rock-cut temples - one dedicated to himself and the other to his wife, Queen Nerfertari. Both temples were carved into the mountain side and made of sandstone. In an attempt to control the rise and fall of the Nile River, the Egyptian government, with the help of the United States and Great Britain, rebuilt the Aswan damn in 1955.[1] With this new dam, Lake Nasser became an enormous manmade lake. In theory, the renovated Aswan Dam would help during times of drought. The dam was connected to a reservoir that would collect rain water and release it during times of limited rainfall. This provided a constant flow of water for the people and enabled farmer’s to have successful harvests each year. Despite Egypt’s efforts to control the water level, Abu Simbel, its Nubian inhabitants, and Ramses II’s temple were in danger of being lost forever due to the rising water of Lake Nasser. The people that lived near the lake were relocated before the reconstruction of the two temples began.
In the year 1959, the Egyptian government and UNESCO began discussions about saving Abu Simbel.[1] The water was rising higher daily and it became a race against the clock. In 1960, countries from all over the world began donating money for this important project. By 1964 the workmen and the construction equipment had arrived at Abu Simbel. This did take some time because everything was sent by ship to the temple. Since the nearest town was one-hundred fifteen miles away, it took five months for the equipment to reach its destination. Even before housing could be built for the day workers, the barrier that would protect the monuments from the rising water needed to be constructed. A cofferdam, with ninety-two feet high vertical steel beams, was placed in front of both of the temples. Sand was then poured in between the cofferdam and the facade of the temple until the structure was completely covered. This was done to protect the temple from any falling stones during the removal process. Throughout this process, the construction crew were on high alert because the water was now only seven feet below the new barrier.
Once the facade was protected, the workers built a narrow corridor made of steel to gain access into the temple. Inside, other workmen began prepping steel beams by placing foam at the ends of the bars. This would protect the ancient carvings when the beams were placed between the columns, the walls of the storage rooms, and the inner sanctuary. After all of the steel was in place, the stone removal process commenced. First, electric saws were used to cut the large stones that were located outside of the temple. Next, each piece was numbered for future reassembling. Thousands of pieces were cut, each weighing on average thirty tons each. Then these pieces were transported to the new site and placed in a holding area until reconstruction began.
The facade of Abu Simbel is one-hundred nineteen feet wide and one-hundred feet high.[1] There are four colossal sculptures of Ramses II with a height of sixty-seven feet. The carvings and the sculpture on his temple reveal his power as both a pharaoh, in the earthly realm, and a god in the divine realm. On the walls of the hypostyle hall are carved images of Ramses II defeating the Hittites. Inside of the innermost sanctuary, Ramses II is seated with three Egyptian gods. Starting from the left is Ptah (God of Creation), Amun Ra (combination of the Sun god and the Creator god), Ramses II, and Ra-Harathty (combination of Horus and Ra). The placement of Ramses II within the inner sanctuary was unique. Not only was he aligning himself with the Egyptian gods, but his temple was also aligned with the sun. Twice a year the sun shines through the entrance of the temple, into the hypostyle hall, and arriving at the sculpture of Ramses II. The carved image of the pharaoh receiving the suns rays became a symbol of resurrection.
The most challenging part about moving the temple, was the facade. The area to be cut was fitted with anchorage bars and synthetic gum to help transport the stone. Once the sawing on the face of Ramses II began, it continued nonstop for twenty-four hours. The workers had to use a handsaw for this delicate process. In addition, they could not stop until they reached the bottom of the face. Sandstone is very fragile. If there was a pause during the cutting of the stone, parts of the pharaoh’s face could break off.
The facade and temple were reassembled on an artificial hill that was built approximately two-hundred twelve feet higher and six-hundred fifty six feet inland.[1] This hill sits on top of rock-fill and has a concrete dome that surrounds and supports the temple. Both the temple and the mound were built simultaneously and meticulously reconstructed. When all of the pieces of the temple were reattached, the fissures from the saw were filled and sealed. One of the colossal sculpture’s, on the left side of the facade, is missing its face. It fell during an earthquake in the time of Ramses II. The pieces of stone that were lying on the ground were repositioned precisely in the same location at the new site.
Four years after the recon- struction began, the temple was opened in 1968 for the public to view this architectural and engineering marvel. Although traces of the reconstruction have disap- peared, there is one minor difference. Just as in ancient times, the sun still enters the hypostyle hall and continues its journey to the inner sanctuary until it reaches the sculpture of Ramses II. The sun, however, now illuminates the sculpture of Ramses II February 22 (his birthday) and on October 22 (his coronation) - one day later than it did in his time.[1] Today, people who visit this temple admire both the majesty of this deified Pharaoh and the incredible feat of engineering it took to move, reconstruct, and save Abu Simbel.
[2] See the YouTube link for a three minute UNESCO video on the relocation of the Ramses II and Queen Neferteri temples: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ur-H7dP8FNc