Aswan & High Dam

In its heyday Aswan represented the southern border of Ancient Egypt. The stone quarries provided the materials for the obelisks and pyramids. As often the question is raised how it has been possible for the Egyptians to lift the massive stones to stack them on top of eachother to form the pyramids, another question is justified: how were they able to transport those building blocks from Aswan to Giza? Aswan is one of the hottest, suniest and driest places in the world with an almost constant average temperature in summer of 104.0 °F.

Thousands of people needed to leave their homes and the two Abu Simbel Temples as well as the Philae Temple had to be relocated.

Aswan is our starting point for a visit to the Abu Simbel Temples (by plane) and the Philea Temple (by boat).

The yearly flooding of the River Nile - improving the quality of the soil but being destructive at the same time - needed to be controled by building two dams leading to the forming of Lake Nasser, containing approximately 169.000 millioen m³ water. The new High Dam was finished in 1970 and the older Lower Dam dates from 1902.