Rescuing Ramesses

In a special edition, we mark the 40th Anniversary of the greatest structural move ever undertaken. We reveal how twenty of Egypt’s finest ancient temples were relocated from the rising waters of the River Nile in the 1960s. We recount how engineers cut up the twin temples of Abu Simbel into over 1,000 blocks to dismantle, move and re-assemble them piece by piece to safety on higher ground. We show how divers dismantled monuments flooded underwater on the Island of Philae and recount how the 900-ton temple of Amada was moved two miles on rail tracks across the desert. To illustrate the techniques used to relocate the temples, a modern day team of movers led by America’s leading structural movers Jerry and Gabe Matyiko attempt to cut, lift and re-assemble a replica sandstone statue of Ramesses.