For 3200 years the sculptured sentinels carved into the living rock of the cliffs had stared out upon the upper Nile at Abu Simbel. This mighty monument to Pharaoh Ramses II seemed impervious not only  to man’s marauding mischief but also to time itself. Until the rising waters of Lake Nasser – following the construction of the new High Dam at Aswan 175 miles downstream – threaten to submerge it.

In March 1964, in a $36 million salvage operation sponsored by UNESCO, a multinational them of archologists and engineers began to cut the temple – and the adjacent Nefertari temple – into large 20-30 ton blocks, and move them to higher ground. Sand had been purposely brought in to act as a net, following the techniques used by the Eygptians thirty-two centuries ago.