The Abu Simbel temples are two very large rock temples built by the ancient Egyptians, at Abu Simbel. This is a village in Nubia, southern Egypt, near the border with Sudan. The temples are on the western bank of Lake Nasser, about 230 km southwest of Aswan. They are part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site known as the "Nubian Monuments." The temples were cut into solid rock in side of a cliff during the reign of Pharaoh Ramesses II in the 13th century BC. It was a lasting monument to himself and his queen Nefertari, to remember his victory at the Battle of Kadesh.
The complete temples were moved in 1968, to a place high above the Aswan High Dam reservoir. They would have been flooded by water from Lake Nasser which was formed by the building of a dam on the Nile River.