Kalabsha Temple and Nubian Museum Tour

Spend your day exploring 2 of the most important complexes in Nubia with the help of your private guide. You visit the Temple of Kalabsha, the largest freestanding temple in the region, and Nubian Museum, considered one of the most important museums featuring recovered relics from tombs and temples.Venture into the history of Egypt's Nubia region and learn of the impact of the Aswan High Dam on the area. First, indulge in the views of the Nile as you take a motorboat to the ancient Temple of Kalabsha, set on the banks of Lake Nasser.The temple itself was built by the Roman emperor Octavius Augustus in 30 BC as a tribute to Mandulis (Merul), a Lower Nubian sun god. Explore the largest freestanding temple in Egyptian Nubia and admire a fine carving of Horus emerging from reeds on its inner curtain wall.Follow your guide, who shows you its most remarkable carvings and features, and see why the temple is considered one of the most complete in the region.

Then, visit the International Museum of Nubia, a result of UNESCO's initiative to preserve artifacts from the area's history.The museum was built in order to provide an exhibition space for materials recovered from tombs, temples, and settlements, as Egyptologists and archaeologists feared that rising waters from the High Dam would submerge the remnants of Egyptian Nubia. The Nubia Museum opened in 1997, and is a winner of the Aga Khan Award for Architecture.

 

What's Included

Included

• • Pick up service from your hotel in Aswan and return.
  • Professional English-speaking Egyptologist guide.
  • Entrance fees to the mentioned historical places.
  • All transfers by a modern air-conditioned vehicle.
  • Bottled water during your trip.
  • All service charges and taxes.

Not Included

• • Any extras not mentioned in the itinerary.
  • Personal Spending.
  • Tipping.

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Kalabsha Temple

Kalabsha Temple is one of the wonderful attractions in Aswan which considered the most delightful city on the banks of the Nile River, as it is the most favorite winter resort for all people since the nineteenth century. plan Egypt tours gives you the chance to visit Kalabsha Temple it is magnificent attraction.

Kalabsha Temple returned to the roman times and was dedicated to the Nubian god Mandoulis, and go back to the time of roman emperor Augustus, later emperor have contributed for the construction, for example, kaligula and Trjan.It originally was built on much early site that dates back to the 18th dynasty and most probably go back to king Thothmosis and Amenhotep II.The temple is considered among the most complete temples in all of Nubia.

The design of Kalabsha Temple is classical for the Ptolemaic period with pylons, courtyard, hypostyle hall and three room, However the Pylon is offset, which creates a trapezoid in the courtyard beyond, It was based on the site of an earlier structure built by Ptolemy IX as evidenced by a chapel There is also a small chapel and gate on Elephantine Island from Kalabsha, and a gate built by Augustus was given to the Agyptisches Museum in West Berlin.

The courtyard just inside the pylon once had columns on three sides, At either end is a staircase that leads to the upper stories of the pylon and a good view of Lake Nassar, On the right screened wall separating the courtyard from the hypostyle hall is an engraving from Aurelius Besarion (around 249 AD), the governor of Ombos and Elephantine decreeing the expulsion of swine from the town for religious purposes, On a column here is the text of King Kharamadoye and is one of the longest Meroitic inscriptions found to date.

On an end wall is thought to be an inscription of the 5th century Nubian King, Silko, who conquered the fierce Nubian Blemmyes, Different seances on the screen walls including the King with Horus and Thoth, On the rear of the vestibule are scenes depicting a Ptolemaic king making offerings to Isis and Mandulis, Also Amenhotep II who founded the original temple (1450 to 1425 BC) upon which this one is built, is making offers of wine to Min and Mandulis, once you are in Aswan do not miss the chance to visit Kalabsha Temple

Nubian Museum

Opened in 1997, the Nubian Museum is a belated, but well-executed, tribute to the culture and influence of Nubia and the Nubian people on the history of Egypt. This ancient culture, every bit as old as that of Ancient Egypt, existed along the banks of the Nile for millennia in the areas we call southern Egypt and northern Sudan today.

It was nearly destroyed by the construction of the High Dam, completely submerging the ancient heartland of Nubia, and over 100,000 people to relocate. The museum houses a collection of artifacts from the Nubia region, which tell the story of the development of civilization in the southern Nile Valley from prehistory all the way through the pharaonic ages, the arrival of Christianity and Islam, and the construction of the dam in the 1960’s.

The plight of the Nubia people is a highly politicized issue. In the rush to develop the country in the 1950’s and 60’s, the Egyptian government did not provide adequate compensation or a sufficient planning to resettle the people whose livelihoods were affected by projects like the High Dam.

The preservation of Nubia’s cultural legacy was equally neglected. International organizations came in to move some of the most famous monuments of Nubia to high ground, like the Abu Simbel temples. Others were dismantled and shipped abroad as compensation for aiding this effort. The Dendar Temple that now stands in the New York Metropolitan Museum is one such gifted Nubian monument.

The Nubian Museum was intended to help rectify this injustice. While that may not be possible, especially since it still makes no mention of the consequences of the dam for the Nubian people, it is very effective at telling the story of the region and providing a glimpse of the culture that continues to exist here. Reconstructions of traditional Nubian houses with artwork salvaged from areas that are now underwater are particularly striking.

The museum is near the Fatamid Cemetery, which is full of small mausoleums dating from the 9th century. Some of the tombs here belong to local saints and they are decorated accordingly with flags and often visited by local people seeking blessings. The cemetery stands next to the ancient granite quarry where the Unfinished Obelisk is located. At nearly 140 feet long,

it would have been the largest obelisk ever carved by the ancient Egyptians. It was completely finished on three sides, but left attached to the bedrock when a flaw in the stone was discovered. Visit to these two sites along with the Nubian Museum make for a great day of activities all located within a small area to minimize walking