Abou Simbel : Temple Égyptien sauvé du Nil pour l'éternité

The first dam in Aswan had considerably reduced the use of the Nubi to a few palm trees and a few summer crops between endless villages, rebuilt to the limit of the first reservoir lake. But this landscape was itself now condemned. The economic needs of the time justified the construction of a new dam on the Nile. This dam was to give birth upstream to a lake 500 km long, activate the turbines of an important power plant and, downstream, enlarge the surface of the arable land. However, south of the new dam, all the ancient remains along the two banks of the Nubian Nile were condemned to disappear forever if the world community did not respond to the requests of the Egyptian and Sudanese governments. In March 1960, during a solemn ceremony at UNESCO, a vibrant call for international solidarity was launched. A universal protection is due to a monument of universal value. Your call does not belong to the history of the spirit because it wants to save the temples of Nubi, but because with him, the first world civilization publicly claims world art as its indivisible heir. Carved into the rock, the temples of Abu Simbel stood abandoned at the foot of the Nubian desert. The great temple, buried under the sand, was only rediscovered in 1813 by the Swiss orientalist Ludwig Burckhardt. Of these temples located on the edge of the Nile, not far from the Sudan border, the smallest is dedicated to the goddess Hathor. Its facade is adorned with colossal statues of more than 10 meters, representing the pharaoh Ramses II and his wife Nefertari. Monarch and illustrious of the 19th dynasty, Ramses had his temples dug around 1260 BC, at the end of the golden age of Egypt. Four colossal statues of more than 20 meters erect the silhouette of the pharaoh in front of the great temple. Next to this giant, the members of the royal family look like dwarfs. On the outer wall, low reliefs recount the lives of men 3,000 years ago. Two divinities of the Nile unite the Lys and the Papyrus to symbolize the union of the high and low kingdoms of Egypt. In addition to the statues of Queen Nefertari and her favorite children, the facade of the temple is adorned with effigies symbolizing the greatness of the sovereign and the reverence he inspired to his enemies. Inscriptions, gnarled and poised, accomplish his reign. Long lines of warriors in a row bear witness to his military successes. The Great Temple The layout of the Great Temple allows for an impressive effect of the setting sun, proof of the astronomical science and the skill of the architects of the time. Twice a year, in February and October, the rays of the sun penetrate the narrow gallery through the giant pillars to the inner sanctuary, usually immersed in darkness, illuminating the statues of three gods, Amon, Ra Aracti, and the Pharaoh himself. Only the statue of Ptah, god of underground powers, remains in the shadows. The colossi of the great hypostyle room are more than eight meters high and lend to the Pharaoh the attributes of the god Osiris. Colorful bas-reliefs say the glory of the monarch. In 1285, Ramses VI, in Syria, proves his warlike value by the defeat he inflicted on the Hittites, who had invaded his kingdom. These images of the power and glory of the great Pharaoh also bear witness to the incomparable talent of the artists of the time. The King of the Hittites Ramses, the victorious king, appears on other bas-reliefs as a wise monarch receiving the homage of gratitude from his people, promulgating laws, and paying to the gods the rightful tribute in the form of sacrifices and acts of piety. Today, 3,000 years later, the descendants of the Pharaoh must face problems that confuse Ramses' mind. The area in which this population lives and works is getting denser and denser, and is limited to the narrow fertile strip that extends over each bank of the Nile. The famous wheat field of Egypt has become too small. The construction of the dam of Saad el-Ali must satisfy a vital need of the people of the United Arab Republic. A basin of water from the Nile will extend far south, inside Sudan. It will be possible to irrigate vast regions and considerably increase crops, and the production of electricity will enable the implementation of new industries. But the construction of the dam has its drawbacks. Hundreds of thousands of people must have been displaced, and the unique monuments of Nubia would have been destroyed if measures were taken to preserve them. The whole world is afraid of the threats that weigh on the monuments of Nubia. The United Arab Republic calls on UNESCO to launch an international campaign to save this heritage from the past. More than 50 countries agree to share the financial burden of the operation. Then a race against the clock and against the rise of the waters begins. Various methods are proposed, and finally, the plan chosen is as follows. A batardeau of planks will be built to protect the temples during the work. On the façade, a mattress of sand will cover the statues of Ramses. Inside, a whole system of support made of steel powder will be built. Finally, the rock surrounding the temple will be removed, except for an 80-centimeter piece of leather. The temples themselves will be cut into blocks of 20 to 30 tons and secured in a storage area. Then the temples will be rebuilt on a new site 60 meters higher, and their natural decor reconstructed. In 1963, the consortium of Abu Simbel, a group of five-country construction companies, receives the contract for the transport of the temples. The mission is delicate. The climate and the distance increase the difficulties. The nearest city, Aswan, is on the Nile, downstream, about 300 kilometers away. There is no road to transport the equipment, machines, and supplies. Does a shipment come from Europe? It takes five months to arrive. The journey from Cairo requires a month or two. However, there is no time to waste. Even before building housing for the staff, the construction of the dig that will support the planks must begin. Its top must be 28 meters above the bed of the river. While in Ethiopia, the level of the Nile rises up to two meters from the top of the dig. Everywhere we work relentlessly. To start cutting the statues, the entire façade must be covered with a shield of fine sand to protect it from the fall of stones. In the most delicate places, the sand is applied by hand. A special process is carried out above the temple on the deblayed plateau. A guard blocks the large blocks of oak on the shield of sand protecting the façade. All the deblays are used to build the dig. In February 1965, the dig is finished and the façade is again covered with sand as before its discovery. To reach the inside of the temple, the only way is a narrow steel conduit. Two hundred and forty tons of steel powder provide the support. To prevent the decoration of the walls or ceilings, the metal supports are filled with felt cushions or plastic materials. Each element is numbered so that the reassembly follows the reverse order of the disassembly. Difficulties really begin when we attack the rocks dominating the temple. The rapid movement of the metal wires separates huge blocks. The chisels come into action. But this is still a general repetition. It is not necessary here to be extremely precise. Wide lines are tolerated. The rock is crushed piece by piece. The hammers are only used on the outside of the façade. They constantly measure the vibrations it causes. The volume of the rocks dominating the temple is constantly decreasing. Two derricks are ready to remove the blocks of steel. And here begins the most delicate part of the work. The rock is so fragile that the contact of water would reduce it to dust. Each block must be carefully marked so that it is placed exactly in its place when the temple is rebuilt. 1,047 blocks for the monuments, 7,700 blocks for the rock mass surrounding them. The average weight of the blocks is 20 to 30 tons. To transport the heaviest blocks we have to remove the rock mass, the housing of the anchoring bars, and fill it with synthetic resin in order to absorb the inopinionous and excessive efforts. The most massive blocks come from the cutting of the statues' heads. The engineers wanted to eliminate the lines of sawdust. We started by protecting the cutting surfaces with plastic coating. And from the first line of sawdust we had to continue the task day and night. At the slightest break, the friable rock would rust very hard. This is the moment that journalists and photographers have been waiting for all night. Ramses is amputated of his face. The denuded façade before being removed has fallen over. The storage areas are located near the place where the temples are located. The position and number of each block is noted as if it were from a book in a library. From this temporary stay, the pharaoh could contemplate the round star of the mansions built for thousands of workers. He could even see the pool and its clear water, a real mirage in the desert. At the old base of the temples, the batardo has done well. The monuments have been saved in time. The cutting and transport of the blocks have become a routine. There is no chaos in the transport. Each block is kept in its original position to prevent breakage that could result in a variation of the forces of pressure. Inside the temple, the work progresses quickly. Every day, new marvels of art are offered to the light. Is there not a little fear in the look that the divine pharaoh seems to cast on our technician air, our air that keeps it from falling into dust thanks to the synthetic resin? He cuts the pillars very finely, with infinite precautions. Exposed to the bad weather, these surfaces are extremely fragile. Now, even if the waters had to submerge the dig before their time, they could only drown the feet and ankles of the pharaoh. A relief is ready for transport. Strange coincidence, it bears a motto that is also that of the salvation of Abu Simbel. The union of water and banyl, symbol of wealth and fertility. And already on the plateau begins the reconstruction. First, a vast leveling was carried out. Then the axis of construction was calculated exactly in order to find twice the year the same luminous marvel. And we begin to rebuild the interior of the temple. The support that ensured the safety of the dismantling will be used. The assembly of the large blocks shows the precision of the cutting. This assembly is easily accomplished. The initial location is now abandoned, submerged by the Nile. The monuments resurrect as each block finds its place. And this is the final phase, the reassembly of the 20-meter colossi. The pharaoh finds his face, a moment of exaltation. We will know if the work is successful, if the statues have the same appearance as those of the Nile. The technical prowess of transport and reassembly does not mean the end of the work. The rocky landscape so characteristic around the temples must be reconstituted as it was. It will therefore have to be remodeled on 12,000 square meters. And to begin with, protect the temples by concrete domes. Above the Great Temple, the vault is more than 60 meters wide. This giant construction required 10,000 cubic meters of concrete. At its top, the vault is 10 meters thick. It will have to support a stone load of 20 tons per square meter. The mass of stone is about 350,000 cubic meters. At the top of the Little Temple, the concrete dome is about 25 meters wide. The last blocks of the facade of the Little Temple are being laid. The exact layout of the 7,700 blocks cut between the two temples will still have to be found. And here are the finishing works of the restoration on the Great Temple. The facade is protected from cracks and storms. It must be able to last for centuries. Who could believe that the temple was entirely cut down? Abu Simbel, ready to greet the sunrise again. These will be testimonies of both the genius of ancient civilization and the miraculous skill of the people of Egypt. They will also testify to the will of the world to preserve the best of its past without giving up to build the future and to rely on international cooperation to lead this great design well. Since 1960, the entire Nubia, in Egypt as in Sudan, has become a real noisy anthill. In Kalapsha, the Nubian government ensures the dismantling of the Ptolemaic Temple, a monument made up of large blocks of clay often decorated on one of their faces. The reliefs are carefully protected. The blocks are placed on a barge that carries them 60 km downstream. They will find their exact location when the reconstruction of the new dam is completed, near the temple of Bet El Wali and the kiosk of Kirtasi, which will also be transported and rebuilt in this place. The temple of Kalapsha is thus carefully reassembled before being reopened to visitors. The problem of the preservation of Amada is different and more difficult to solve. Indeed, this temple of the 18th dynasty, built in small blocks of clay, has the particularity of having often preserved the painted plaster that covers the sculptures. It is therefore a question of finding the ideal solution to transport the temple in one mass. France is in charge of the construction. The columns and angles are protected and the solidity of the building, both inside and outside, is ensured by concrete beams. Then the monument is separated from its foundations and placed on rails. For nearly six months, the temple of Amada, as well as Ofre, makes the few six kilometers that separate it from its new site. It is a delicate work that requires constant surveillance and which, given the short length of the way we have, forces the workers to make incessant maneuvers to dismantle and reassemble the rails on the wooden crossings. Amada, stripped of its armature and its beams, is now located near the temple of Der and the tomb of Penuth, which were rebuilt on the same site. On its side, the Service of Antiquities of Egypt is in charge of a whole series of monuments to be transported out of the waters. The most spectacular is the monument of Amada, which is located in the center of the temple. A series of crowned sphinxes lead to the pylons and then to various rooms. Here, the work is complicated by the presence of mural paintings that a Yugoslav mission deposits before being transported out of the waters. The method to dismantle, cut, transport and store the blocks of a monument is now well in place. Those of the temple of Wadi Esseboa are still today stored before their next relocation on the site where the temples of Maharaka and Daka have already been transported and rebuilt by the Egyptian engineers and workers. In Gherfusen, where it was necessary, due to insufficient means, to abandon a temple of Ramses II dug in the Greyseuse cliff, the Egyptian Antiquities Service used the experience of Abu Simbel to cut out some characteristic reliefs. However, in Deir, it was entirely sown, transported and rebuilt near the temple of Amada another work in the glory of Ramses II. In Sudan, international cooperation played the same role as in Egypt. The United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Belgium ensured the dismantling and transfer of the temples of Buen, Semna Est and Semna West as well as their reconstruction near a basin symbolizing the Nile in the garden of the Khartoum Museum. During the rainy season, they are protected by a removable hangar, which allows them to be visited throughout the year and to admire the bas-reliefs dating from the Middle Pharaonic Empire. If 50 nations have responded to UNESCO's call to safeguard the Nubian monuments by their contribution, about twenty states have, when they could, increased their cooperation by subsidizing excavation missions. Archaeologists from all over the world have gathered side by side in the threatened region to explore the remains. Less fortunate in Egyptian Nubia, already prospected at the time of the first Aswan Dam, they have obtained remarkable results in Sudanese Nubia, previously little known. The construction of the raw-brick fortresses of Mirgissa has provided valuable information on the military architecture of Ancient Egypt. A series of discoveries, currently exhibited in the Khartoum and Khair Museums, bear witness to the importance of Nubian civilizations from their origins to recent eras. Many of the objects are closely related in their design and execution to some of the most beautiful achievements of African art. Egyptian civilization has thus spread widely and penetrated deeply into the heart of Africa. These different vestiges The admirable mural paintings of the cathedral of Faras, in Sudanese Nubia, were discovered and deposited by the Polish mission. For example, these two Madonna to the Child, protecting one and the other a Nubian princess. This saint, believed to be painted by Rouault, where the Archangel Gabriel surrounded Doran. Just as Sudan donated half of the murals of Faras to Poland, Egypt showed its gratitude to the nations that had helped it. This is how the United States was able to reconstruct the small temple of Dandur at the Metropolitan Museum, formerly located south of the temple of Kalapsha. In the Netherlands, the Ede Museum now honors the North Chapel of Tafé, which stood 50 km south of Aswan. In Spain, the temple of Débode is perhaps in Madrid, far from the Nubian sky. At least it has found its architectural ensemble, strongly shaken by an earthquake in 1868. However, the international campaign for the preservation of Nubia is not yet complete. I invite today all institutions, foundations, public or private, as well as all men of goodwill, to contribute, each according to his means, to the success of the last stage of a cultural enterprise whose world has taken on great significance. But there is still a pearl to be saved, the famous pearl of Egypt, which the poets of the last century spoke of, Philae. Philae, which the modern gods have been challenging since the beginning of the century with a first dam built downstream. Each year, the island, because it is an island full of temples, disappeared under the waters, but during the summer the old stones came back to life. Today, there is a daily tide due to the hydroelectric station of the old dam. Between the dead but eternal gods and the new gods, will there be dialogue and peace or incompatibility? The island of Philae offers a unique spectrum of architectural styles. The oldest brand dates from the pharaoh Nectanebo, who reigned around the middle of the 4th century BC, while the latest monument, a splendid Greco-Roman kiosk, would have been built under the emperor Trajan. As for the temple of Isis, it is under the Ptolemies and the Roman emperors who followed them that it was progressively built. The bas-reliefs of the elegant pylon of this classic temple represent several deities in relation to the legend of Isis, the goddess of fertility, and the goddess of love. In the 6th century AD, the island remained a center of the cult of Isis. This is what Philae was like when the island was taken from its liquid prison. Many technical solutions had been proposed. One was finally retained. It consisted of building a dam around the island, pumping the water, dismantling the monuments and building a dam. Construction of the dam began in June 1972. The work took two years. It was nothing more than removing the island from a double steel ring. Sand had to fill the cavity between the two rings. A difficult task because the sand quarries were a few kilometers away. Thousands of tons of sand had to be transported In April 1974, the dam was finished and the island could be dried up. The drainage operation took several months. While the work was in progress, the site on which the temples were to be rebuilt was being prepared on the island. The island was flattened and enlarged. Landscapes were used to give it the appearance of a floating island At the end of 1974, the island was released from the waters and the workers began to remove the lime that had been covering the monuments since the island had been submerged. Infiltrations were noticed. It took months to carry out the operation. But there was still lime, a layer reaching four meters at a time. Once the lime was removed and the temples cleaned, the whole thing shone in its original beauty. It was at the end of the last century, when the first Aswan dam was built, that the island of Philae was the subject of meticulous work later completed by photogrammetric examinations. But the temples being dismantled and the foundations bare, it was not impossible for relics of older monuments to reappear. There is a great wealth of inscriptions on the island and some of them, in demotic writing, are now the subject of new collations. The numbered stone blocks are already ready for the voyage to the island of Aguilquia. It took many years to achieve this result. It was in 1959 that UNESCO sent its first mission to Philae. It also took a lot of money, 15 million dollars for the whole operation. But soon, not as a reward after a day, but as a reward after years of effort, the most beautiful vessel on the island was brought. In the midst of tragedies, conflicts, divergences, political and religious dissidents, we are now bringing back temples built thousands of years ago by kings and princes. All this in order to develop the feeling of historical continuity. Nowhere else, better than in Egypt, is this historical continuity symbolized by Abu Simbel, Philae and the huge international solidarity generated by UNESCO.