Wednesday 27 January 2010

Philae Temple, the Aswan High Dam and the Unfinished Obelisk

Written 26 Jan. In the morning of 21 Jan, we staggered out of bed at 6am, and left at 7.30, along with everyone else from the 30+ boats which had docked alongside us. It was a short trip to Aglika Island in small motorboats holding 30-40 people. Why? In 1902 the first Aswan Dam flooded the temple of Philae. Parts of it showed above the water and people were able to visit some of it when the Nile was low. It was moved 5 km and relocated on another island. A beautiful setting with other islands made of piles of rock around it. A place to sit and dream...

After that we went by bus to the Aswan High Dam. WOW! A few of the gates were open and the force of the water bursting through was phenomenal! Rami had never seen this before. The lake behind it is 32 km long. If it burst, the carnage would be horrific! Beyond the lake below the dam, are the houses built for 100,000 Nubians whose villages were flooded when the dam was built. It was made possible by a massive contribution from the Soviet Union.

Our last stop was the pink granite quarry where lies a huge obelisk,cut out on three sides and the point made, before it cracked in two or three places. End of story - an obelisk must be in one piece. It would have been the largest ever erected, would have weighed 1.8 million kg and have been 41 m high. There are no written records of this, so no one is sure when it was created.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Nice post. Philae is an island located in the River Nile.Philae is a small island and it is famous for copious and pleasing ruins, they attrct more tourist. You can see tomb of Osiris.Philae is a amazing place for its special effects of shade as well as lights. Best time to visit Philae is from October to March. For more details and video refer Philae only temple in egypt