egypt rich and fascinating history dates back thousands of years celebrating the pharaohs and the magnificent monuments they built. the pyramids were just one example of their legacy. the 19th century explorers were astonished to discover ancient temples in southern egypt, the power that the pharaohs wielded extended all along the nile, even through the vastness of the sahara desert. here in nubia, they built enormous structures that defied the forces of man and nature for thousands of years. in the 19th sixty's, when the decision was taken to construct one of the largest dams in the world, the fate of the temples seemed to be sealed. they were to be submerged beneath the surface of a huge artificial lake. their rescue from the nile waters was possible due to international cooperation and the efforts of many thousands of people. it took over 2 decades of unprecedented efforts in order to save the monuments with unique technical solutions. some of the rescue temples can be admired at lake nasa, bast, others were transported thousands of kilometers to europe, all to us. our journey through southern egypt takes us to these wild cultural heritage treasures ah, the nile flows through egypt to the mediterranean. it is both a waterway and a source of irrigation. the ancient egyptians saw it as a gift from the gods. one of the most impressive and advanced civilizations of ancient times surfaced on its banks. ah, as one is located deep in the south of egypt and has long been a border between upper egypt and the interior of africa. part of ancient newby allies here buried in the sand. these days the region belongs partly to both egypt and sudan. informa times the borders were natural. the granite rock rapids of the cataracts of denial. mm. nubia was strategically interesting to the egyptians due to the gold ivory ebony and slaves. the nubian kings were also known as the of the kingdom of kush. they were sometimes allies to the barrows and sometimes ho between 400 b, c and 300. a de marie with its pyramid complex is the capital of course at the end of the 4th century b. c. but pharaohs who stablished a vast kingdom that stretched from the nile delta in the north to the 1st nile cataract. in the south the egyptians built a series of fortresses to control the remote area and border but the king's wanted to expand even further. nubia was gradually conquered by egypt with its soldiers enslaved or forced to fight for the education army egyptian dominance was underlined by the fortress, isn't temple they built in the area mm. in the 18th century european explorers traveled up the nile to sedan. it was a revelation here in the little known south of egypt, thousands of ancient sites were found that had been hidden for millennia. huge tang, curious tombs and temples carved into the rock buildings commissioned by the pharaohs as well as those of the greeks and romans fascinated with their size, their colors and the mysteries that surrounded their history. this rich nubian heritage was threatened with destruction in the 1960s the water levels of the nile were rising. unprecedentedly mainly due to human interventions. egypt population was exploding and zation and modernization of the country with a political challenges of the time. the annual flooding of the nile was hindering these developments. adoptions no longer want it to be dependent on the whims of the river. 1954 egyptian president, command abdel nasa decided to build a new damn and us one the mammoth project. but not only be one of the largest river structures ever, but also one of the most expensive fools, clear soul, the harshly sheep, the fear penalty don't go to finance the dam construction egypt asked western countries for help. the u. s. and england off at the prospect of $70000000.00. with financing from the world bank sla misty sip, i bought a crisis ensued keys in the middle of the cold war. egypt insisted on the policy of neutrality. and it's right to buy weapons from czechoslovakia. he says in your voice, can you not? the united states withdrew its office, he said with world bank financing was therefore no longer an option will go. he posts nasa, i've done the sale, opted to nationalize the british french suez canal company in 1956, stating if they don't finance ow damn. we will pay for it. with the revenues from the suez canal, they leave new gala. this led to the sue as war between egypt, france, israel, and england. elizabeth alef hall's elder. they all of them with you and mediation. the crisis ended with the withdrawal of britain and france. egypt moved increasingly closer to the soviet union, which provided the resources and technicians to get the dam project off the ground . a monument to the south of aswan commemorates the treaty and the construction of the damn. from it, the entire dam can be seen. the result of 11 years of construction by around 36000 workers. ah boy, yes, miss said delilah in the ass one damn it is 111 meters high without our from east to west or it has a crest length of 3830 meters and is 980 meters wide at the base. dominique method for its construction at 43000000 cubic meters of excavation, earth and rock had to be dumped into the old river bed, metra, mo, that's 17 times the amount of material used for the key ups pyramid robinson. the hallman of, ah, the dam has created a gigantic water reservoir upstream, like nasa over 500 kilometers long, with an area of 5250 square kilometers. more than 100000 people had to be re settled in sudan and egypt. some of the people were accommodated in newly built villages. others moved elsewhere in egypt, especially cairo. all they went abroad. oh yeah, a huge expansive water now covers ancient nubia. the landscape is grandiose and tragic. at the same time, the almost deserted shores are overlooked by rocky mountains. they once marked the edge of the hall, atlanta. these small islands, now surrounded by dangerous shoals, where mountain peaks 50 years ago. ah, kinda sad of an hour and normally we will. our elders tell us that before the dam you could navigate is it on a canal or river? it was easy to get from one place to another because denial in newby was not very wide, variety tend to be on. there were small waves, and at night they navigated by the stars and she will give us all of her life and our at that time there were no maps or gps and then you are the villages and stopped where they wanted to. and then continued on to ask one or why the, how far in sudan kind of become really was one with us in the 10101 for crossing lake. nasa means following the architectural footsteps, the pharaohs in the mid 1950 news of the construction of the damn set off an archaeological race egyptologist from all over the world only had a limited amount of time to explore the nile valley of valley harbouring thousands of years of human history, but scientists only managed to excavate a 3rd of the archaeological sites before the rising water level made further excavations impossible. mm. the dam project triggered a worldwide debate about the fate of nubian treasures out as one decide between cultural heritage and further development between food security and preserving remnants of the past or media reports were pessimistic about egypt. chances of saving so many monuments. some force all future temple visits by diving only the reality was even more dramatic. many of the monuments were hewn from easily fractured rock. they would be destroyed forever, a floor plan for the area full cost at the exact date. when the thoroughness masterpieces would disappear. french egyptologist christian to wash nobler cour decided to act. she was an experienced excavation director in egypt and was not afraid to speak out against the consequences of dam construction. i also she's a v as mama at the hall and paul, bam. peg um, at that moment i had a real problem all. thank katie gyptian said we're going to sacrifice new, be as temples. he also he'll, he'll go, la nubia was going to become this shoot reservoir of water, which would have destroyed everything. he knew i breeza and maybe that was completely unacceptable to me. so i said to them, i have to find another solution. info. he said hello shows. oh, do you talking about? that's how they are the egyptian. he met a theme. why get good? i said, give me a few days to find competent people because sacrificed the area just because you think you need it. as soon as any, the he goes on and he was won the saving the temples of nubia in such an explosive context, required having a neutral authority to oversee things. christiane, to harsh, nobler cor, ensure that the problem became an international issue. see, it was a person very well known in egypt. he talk personally to a mr. nasa and she was also friends services, director general of unesco through her connections. i think the whole story came together because she convinced everybody that this is a heritage which needs to be preserved for future generations. unesco had been founded a few years earlier and were encouraged to get involved. the decision to save the monuments of nubia was made at the unesco headquarters in paris or jewelry. real day on march, the 8th, 1960 ruled the nations, despite some of them being involved in covert or overt conflicts. i have agreed for the 1st time to join forces public to save the cultural heritage of a vanished civilization that will convey the recalls of support and funding from around the world. the temples of the nile must be saved. the unusual campaign stoked the interest of many young people who then got involved vic, owners that they broke. i was very young back then, maybe 11 or 12. the else is younger schools and what are you doing in school at that age? and even as you are learning about egypt, i was watching tv one night and i heard the reaction about minister of culture to the unesco appeal to family, or like to buy was incredibly moved. the next day i asked my school if we could raise money to save the nearby and monuments that though my basket, it was an extraordinary action and a groundbreaking camp, and why my country is normally tended to only preserve their own heritage. they went interested in saving other countries and then unesco intervened and launched their famous appeal to all nations of the world. we must help egypt save these monuments similar because they don't belong to egypt alone. they belong to the history of all mankind, florida reminded take the in egypt. various leaders started moving to say the country heritage culture minister saw what akasha was aware of. the west fascination with ancient egypt to promote the rescue campaign, he sent the treasures of to 10 tom moon, the most famous bearer on a traveling exhibition, as far away as the united states. around the world, the public started taking notice stamps with pictures of the threatened temples were issued in some countries. soon. money from all corners of the globe flowed into the rescue project. a unifying action despite the cold war. unesco is an agency which brings together people around the table because we are a technical agency. we don't deal with politics. we deal with actually actions on the ground. to save, got the heritage to preserve the environment, to ensure communication among the different countries and to ensure a dialogue, diplomacy, and support of a technical solutions can take many years and work on the dam was already intensifying. ah, yeah. back in 1813 the swiss. john louis bu cart discovered a boost in bel. it notes described a huge temple between the desert and the nile, with majestic statues emerging from the and, and guarding a temple entrance. in france, the young linguist, jean francois champagne ya, studied the detailed drawings of the temple of inscriptions. he succeeded in deciphering the hieroglyphics and realized that abu simbel was a temple in honor of the pharaoh ramseys. the 2nd, are born in the 13th century b. c. ramsey's, the 2nd was one of the great kings of egypt, after the battle of kadesh, against the hittites, he had a monument built for himself, and several gods in nubia. ah, the complex of abu sin bell is carved out of the rock. the facade is 40 meters wide and about 30 meters high. for colossal statues of ramses the 2nd are 20 meters high. the 1st room has colossal statues, representing ramseys the 2nd in the form of the god osiris. myra graphics and images of the pharaoh covered the wall. the ancient egyptians created a series of rooms in a straight line leading to the most sacred sanctuary. twice a year, the sun rises in perfect line with the entrance to the monument. its rays penetrate the temple and illuminated all the way to the sacred chamber. only the statue of the creator, god tar, remains in darkness. without the magnificent rescue operation involving thousands of people in the 1968. these imposing temples, which are still almost completely intact and not be able to be visited today. ah chavo as a special connection to our boosting bow. ah, his grandfather was a renee mow, director, general of unesco. i wish him well. so she was simple as part of my family history at taylor veteran his school in the 19 sixty's of the my grandfather worked on the rescue operation of the figure of young. this is the 1st time i visited the site for it all, and it's very moving to finally see the temples of, you know, as i've heard about abuse and bell since i was a child. my grandmother always used to tell me about the project and i wanted to get a better idea of what the rescue operation actually means. it's an issue bringing so many nations together or let to apply such restoration techniques and the desert and when the race against time it is a real feet don't deserve. i am very impressed. sure. because a narrative of typically the temples of abuse and bell are rock temples. everything from the huge statues at the entrance through to the smaller ones within has been carved out of the stone. which means that dismantling and preserving them without damaging them was a momentous task. with the economic growth in the 19 sixty's, technological progress had made a number of large scale constructions possible, dams, highways, bridges for engineers. nothing seemed impossible to save the temples of abuse and bell unesco issued an international call for proposals. several propositions were submitted. unis gravel through ethernet or the sean esco is primarily a foreign for the exchange of knowledge of technology and know how soon upon all good examples of cather to long relax, bender noodle on in order to save the temples. there was extensive correspondence between al unesco newby, a department, and the international expert sincere. the pope was as shown this over god is the soft version. this is some of the solutions were very original, if not slightly pessimistic. if the monument com be saved from the water, why not visit them under water? a british architect proposed that future visitors travel by boat to a hollow, concrete support similar to offshore platforms. and then take an elevator 50 meters down to a water tie chamber. the temples would be illuminated by flat lights blue. but construction could also serve as a base for diving expeditions. although other visitors could accompany the diving tourists. in another proposal, the temples were to be enclosed in a huge glass dome filled with water. it wasn't the listen to the idea of letting the nile flood the temple had the advantage that it didn't need to be moved there. but in the long run from this would lead to the erosion of the sandstone. temple. hunger on particular sandstone is brittle with a composition of 50 percent. sam gets from the sam, a team of italian engineers, proposed counting the temples out of the rock and lifting them with a hydraulic system consisting of platforms and extremely slow and hazardous operation. leave your bill priori dignity cutting out the temple and hydraulically raising its 60 meters seamed technically feasible in an engineering office in euro, iowa. but we're in the desert here are features such a complex job would mean bringing a huge amount of equipment on that. and also being perfectly coordinate as it was, it was not to break the temper while lifting saltzman. chris saw it in order to see another solution proposed using the rising water to lift the temple complex on a huge barge. the most realistic solution to save the abu symbolic complex from the damn waters was inspired by what was threatening them to build another dam. to protect the temples, a dam, 300 meters long and over 60 meters high. the in 1900. 63 more experts are right in abu symbol a solution had not been agreed upon, and time was pressing. the valley would soon be under water. the reality on the ground was quite different to what the western engineers had imagined. southern egypt was a remote region without an airport or proper roads. ah, the idea of a protective dam around the temple area was abandoned. it didn't look good for the future of the temple complex. but unesco refused to give up. the monuments had to be removed from the ever encroaching lake in any way possible. the radical solution was to count up the temples and reassembled them as close as possible to their original locations. a consortium of german, french italian, swedish and egyptian companies was commissioned to do this. the s and based company hawk teeth was to be responsible. the conditions on site were a cause of concern for the engineers. so she think of en route go the school. the problem was time your because the decision had been made to late for a and we were faced with rising water once the asked one damn was finished and the flooding started the school. so we had to protect our temples with so called coffer damsel and complete their dismantling before the water level flooded them. but the others were not an easy task. if you don't seem to be bugging you the living conditions for the workers rescuing the temple when not ideal. if you does it, it is. if the villages there were deserted, which i benefited roscoe, because when it got too crowded to sleep on the boat, i moved into a rickety old house in a neighbouring village. no one lived there any more. only large packs of dog little boots, about 40 or 50 animals gallop sekoya. i'd love all with that to let that go where we are now. there was nothing back then. what kind of for you had the hog, not a household, not even a shrub, while a priest, i got all every absolutely nothing. oh jamar laura will look along were what there were a lot of vipers and scorpions for a shot. where no machine in those we would crush them or throw stones at them. a yard of a lip, but a shot once a scorpion stung me in the foot on my on a water bottle. i howled in pain for 24 hours out of my she didn't sow and i was little minnow. legally. teams came and went in abu simbel conditions gradually improved. housing was built for the workers and engineers. the ultimate luxury in the desert was a swimming pool. a small town grew with apartments warehouses, a hospital even, and asked trip it all became part of to day city of abuse and bell some of the workers back then still live here. after the rescue operation, they worked as maintenance personnel. mm. in the 1960, as many workers were nubians from the heights, they observed a water rising gradually flooding the valley, including the villages of that ancestors. in 1964 preparations were made to cut into the temples while 300 kilometers farther north. the 1st section of the asked swan hi dan was inaugurated the leash was id badge. russians built the dam without bothering about what was going on up stream it to me, they had a schedule and to save time, they decided to build a reservoir bit by bit cheesy. i could hear you in doing so cold. they took advantage of the nile flood without really caring what that meant for the temple salvation. i'm with the video to look at more. you show the water encroached towards the temple area. a coffer damn needed to be constructed quickly as a barrier. the facade of the temple was covered with sand to protect it from the vibrations of the construction machinery. an access tunnel was built within the monument. ah, no, it's a ye. yeah, buffy. we propped up the interior of the temple the vessel to prevent it from collapsing. if boulders were moved above it, v. adopt lucie, florida. it wasn't a vol screw. it had a flat ceiling. would you did the year laboratory, blood, walkways and scaffolding were constructed. the workers were the last people to see the reliefs in their original location. the dissection of the temple started in march 1964, 3000 engineers and workers took on the giant of stone. starting at the top, the cutting was done in stages. on seeing the counting source arrive, many of the egyptologist looked on anxiously. the gaps shouldn't be wider than 6 millimeters, especially developed hands. souls had been created for the precision work which could not be left to the machines. the most tedious work was cutting the ceilings inside it was a race against time floodlights were installed, work continue to round the clock. after 2 years on march the 31st 1966. the temple was completely dismantled just in time, as water was already pouring into the site. the huge temple puzzled, then had to be transported several 100 meters up the mountain on trucks. hey, a road was specifically built for this purpose. the temples were reconstructed. 65 meters above the original site, extreme care was taken to catalogue and assemble the blocks. nevertheless, the egyptologist were concerned about the condition of the sculptures and the reliefs. any cutting marks should be as invisible as possible the assembly of the heads was particularly tricky answered the rock mass were also moved to the new location. but would the temple complex bad? the load? the engine is erected, a massive reinforced concrete shall around the temples. building a 60 me to wide dome in the middle of the desert was an impressive technical achievement. in september 1968, the temples of abuse and bell opened at their new location. the international public was enthusiastic, saved from the flooding. the tempos could now survive into the future. the ass, one high dime was completed in 1970. the huge water reservoir was given, the name lake nasa. in 1976, it reached its full capacity. abuse and bell may have been saved, but other cultural treasures were still in danger. there was not enough time or money to save them, and many monuments fell victim to the dam construction. sanchez, the temple of gaff, hussein, 90 kilometer south of ass one, which was dedicated to the god for thought. a law, no lack of other they've all the lively by the law. unfortunately, some temples could not be saved because they were built of fragile or inferior stone. so doctor, i got the statue behind me as from gaff hussein and shows ramsey's. the 2nd redundant, he ordered the temple to be built or healthy. i left the gap hussain is similar to the temple of abuse and bell and was also carved into the rock. but in contrast to abu simbel hubbard, the clay sandstone here, is very porous, while i can get this statue of ramsey's, the 2nd was save little hug of la. it stood with 5 other identical statues in a pillared hall inside hula law. i thought it was at them as if the machine to day the rest of the monument lies 50 meters deep in lake nasa. 200 kilometers up the nile is the temple of amada, one of the oldest monuments in nubia. the origins of this temple date back to the 12th dennis day, it was built in the 15th century, b. c by 2 most is the 3rd and dedicated to our moon ray. due to its low location, it was considered particularly vulnerable and would be one of the 1st cultural sights to sink into lake nasa. an egyptian team of engineers dismantled the board to go to oh, the magnificent and colorful relief inside was so delicate that it was feared they could break if caught or a french team of experts wanted to move to temple as a whole. on rails. first, they planned to dig underneath the temple to support the foundation with a concrete slab. of course, it was stretched around the structure and hydrophilic jacks. we used to move the 800 ton block centimeter by centimeter. the workers had to relate the tracks every 150 meters. the rescue operation dragged on for months and narrowly escaped disaster in 1900. 64. when the nile level rose dangerously the know by 965, the entire temple had moved almost 3 kilometers. its location is now 60 meters higher than before. the armada temple was saved and its unique colored relieved can still be admired to day. mm. although only 8 kilometers away from they asked one down the temple complexes of finally had to wait to be rescued until the last moment they, we're located on an island in the middle of denial. ah, the last pharaohs had a whole series of monuments erected here. the best preserved dose from the end of the toner make dennis day. which queen cleopatra belong to the largest temple, is that of goddess isis. ah. finally was built by the roman empress, as evidenced by the impressive tre, jan kiosk temple. with the completion of the 1st as bon dom in 19 o 2, the island was flooded. 10 months of the year. the construction of the new dam worse than the situation. the nile water had washed out the foundations of the temples. i'm elizabeth caused them. miguel allah, honey, to save the shrines. the site was enclosed with 17000 sheets of metal, kim, water, and water. how did the i'm a sand was then back chill to compact. it all and what? how did he then it was possible to stop pumping out all the water with the mammoth undertaking started in 1972. the thick layer of mud that had accumulated over the decades didn't make it any easier. once the sheet piling of the confidante was in place, well cuz began to remove the earth. after the main temples had been caught down into $37000.00 blocks, weighing several times each, they were hold away and the metal damn was removed. finally disappeared into the floods of the nile. the new site for the islands, treasures was just a few 100 meters away. in the cherry taylor's new eyes from one asset to deflect c, truly monumental. the idea was to move all the monuments from filing to the neighboring island of gil kia, which was higher and thus saith from flooding community. thank you for that info again. here we had the same top haggerty as delete them informed. all the monuments could be placed identically as they had been thought. i mean, we'll healed su. in fact, the granite island in the middle of the lake was flattened by 30 meters in 1977. the landscape remodeling which started with the reconstruction of the temples. was one of the largest projects of this kind. on march the 10th 1980 many bowed sailed towards a guild. here the treasures of finally were again open to the public. due to the mostly cloudy waters of lake nasa, it is impossible to see the ancient sites on its bottom. one of the smallest monuments of nubia is the chapel carved into the rock cat elissia. it's recovery was undertaken by an italian egyptian team and was one of the most dangerous operations undertaken. as the nile flood serve 965 were unusually high. the plan was to comp the chapel enter blocks and transport them away by barge. when the water level suddenly rose, everything had to be done quickly. the barge was used like a water elevator, and the blocks was successfully loaded just in time. in recognition of this achievement and the work done and i boosted bell italy, received the remains of the chapel as a gift. ah, today the small rock temple of elissia is in the egyptian museum of turin. and is one of the world's oldest collections of egyptian antiquities. ah, it thank olivia. a thoughtful, go 3 think don't allow me thought that gwinnett tracy will say, chapman valencia was built in the middle of the 15th century, b. c, mostly by order of pharaoh to moses the surgery, thought a 1000 due to his many conquests in navia and the la vandal is also known as the napoleon of ancient t, jacksonville up at his incident, vintage and egyptian chapel. and nubian tarrot shape was not only a tribute to the gods, it also served to control caravans springing, luxury goods from africa to egypt, baron the law for to go there to select the prologue, to pursue the nations involved in the rescue operation of newby as cultural treasures all hoped to obtain a piece or 2 for their own collections of antiques. spain secured a particularly impressive monument. de baud was one of the largest temples to leave egypt. it had already been taken apart in 1961 and store temporarily on the so called elephant island, near the damn. in 1970, the stones were taken to madrid, the borough of what goes through either a temple dates from the 2nd millennium b. c. a nor its builder was king a dick holla, meaning of marrow, eager for getting close to your la. he began the construction of the chapel, was that you meant this other rooms were added in the toll the mac era and then by the roman emperor augustus. and his successor type beer in the store or give me the metropolitan museum of art in new york benefited from the u. s. involvement in the bailout it is home to one of the best gyptian exhibitions in the world. the den do a one of the 9 temples has been on display here since 978. the stones used to build a temple have come a long way the egypt thank other countries with various their own gifts. ah, the netherlands received the temple of to germany was given a gate to them unduly temple of collab shot which can be seen to day in berlin. the nubian rescue campaign lasted a total of 30 years. the largest monument rescue project of old time was largely successful thanks to international support initiative, technical solutions, and the work of thousands on site. i have a quite a few cultural sites when not saved. with a complete flooding of lake nasa, they have been lost wherever and 100000 nubians lost their homes. nevertheless, the archaeological rescue operation made it possible to document the history of nubia and sheds new light on the history of southern egypt. in 1979, the rescue temples on lake nasa were declared the unesco. well heritage sign. ah, they are not only fascinating testimonies to the thoroughness era, but also belong to one of the most spectacular rescues of cultural treasures ever awe . tired but unable to sleep, try hypnosis. sleep researcher and christina knows all about what helps promote quality sleep at night. and she explains to us what happens to our bodies when the conscious mind is taking a break. like to borrow to day. in 30 minutes on d w. we la euro, we la diversity and anything unusual? no mountain is too high and no road is too long. in search of the extraordinary we are the specialists of lifestyle, 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