50 countries participated in saving Nubian landmarks from Abu Simbel to Philae

CAIRO – 5 April 2022: World Heritage Sites are monuments nominated by the UNESCO World Heritage Committee to be included in the UNESCO-administered International Heritage Sites programme.

These features may be natural, such as forests and mountain ranges; or they may be man-made, such as buildings and cities; and they may be mixed.

This program was launched by the Convention for the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage, which was adopted during the General Conference of UNESCO held on November 16, 1972.

Since its signing, 193 countries have ratified this convention. The program aims to classify, name and preserve sites of particular importance to humankind, whether cultural or natural.

Through this agreement, the sites included in this program receive financial aid under certain conditions. Among those monuments that were recorded on the World Heritage site are the monuments of Nubia from Abu Simbel to Philae.

Philae Temple

The World Heritage site "Nubian Landmarks from Abu Simbel to Philae" includes many archaeological sites such as the Temple of Ramses II in Abu Simbel and the Temple of Isis on the island of Philae, which were saved from drowning due to the construction of the High Dam.

UNESCO launched a global campaign to save the sites threatened with inundation as a result of the construction of the dam and move them to a new site suitable in terms of safety during the period from 1960 to 1980 at a cost of $80 million at the time. Fifty countries participated in the saving and the ECOMOS contributed to it.

The site "Nubian Landmarks from Abu Simbel to Philae" was registered on the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites in 1979.