Aswan Dam, Gravity dam in Aswan Governorate, Egypt
The Aswan High Dam is a rockfill embankment dam 3,600 metres long, 111 metres high and 980 metres wide at its base, holding back the Nile 7 km upstream of the 1902 Low Dam. Its pale beige concrete face carries a long row of tall vertical windows between columns, with a parapet and transmission towers above and a pier-supported apron below.
Work began after Western financing withdrew and Moscow stepped in, sending engineers from the Soviet Union to realize the project. Construction changed the Nile landscape forever, controlling the annual floods that had shaped Egypt for thousands of years.
The dam is run by the General Authority for the High Dam and Aswan Reservoir, and its reservoir is named Lake Nasser after Gamal Abdel Nasser, who led its construction. The rising water submerged Nubian villages and fields upstream, displacing communities whose homeland lay beneath the lake.
The dam lies about 7 km upstream of the older Aswan Low Dam, and its crest road is 40 m wide, so vehicles and pedestrians cross the Nile on it. The site is reached from Aswan city; the open desert setting means sun exposure is strong for most of the day.
During construction, ancient temples were dismantled stone by stone and rebuilt at higher locations to save them from rising water. This monumental move mobilized UNESCO and experts from many countries across a decade.
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