Great Temple of Abu Simbel, Egyptian temple in Abu Simbel, Egypt.

The Great Temple of Abu Simbel is a speos, a temple cut into the sandstone cliff of the hill of Meha. Its 38-metre-wide facade carries four seated colossi of Ramesses II about 22 metres tall, the second broken with its head lying face down on the ground, and a figure of Re-Horakhty in a niche above the doorway. Behind the pronaos with eight ten-metre Osiride pillars lie a hypostyle hall and the naos.

Ramesses II began carving the temple into the hill of Meha around 1264 BC and completed it about twenty years later, one of six rock-cut temples he built in Nubia. Its architect was Setau, then viceroy of Nubia. Abandoned for centuries, it was reported by J. L. Burckhardt in 1813; Giovanni Belzoni cleared the entrance in 1817. In the 1960s the temple was dismantled and rebuilt 65 metres higher and some 200 metres back from Lake Nasser.

The sanctuary displays four carved deity figures—Amun Ra, Ra Horakhty, Ptah, and a deified Ramesses II—that reflect the religious beliefs of ancient Egypt. These representations show which gods held the greatest importance for people of that era.

The temple stands on the west bank of Lake Nasser, about 231 km southwest of Aswan, and is reached by road or by boat across the lake. The facade faces east, so morning light falls on the colossi. The site is open ground with little shade; carry water and sun protection.

The solar alignment was not the only astronomical feature: a frieze of 22 baboons at the top of the facade faces the rising sun, greeting it at dawn. The architect was Setau, viceroy of Nubia. After the 1960s relocation, the sun now reaches the sanctuary two days later than the original dates.