Mommy cat Chica is showing her kitten Pumuckl their country and teaching him Egypt's history.
Chica: Today we will go to Upper Egypt, Pumuckl. On the way to Aswan on the western bank of Lake Nasser lays Abu Simbel. Abu Simbel consists of two temples which have been built more than 3,000 years ago by Ramses II. It is said that it took 20 years to finish Abu Simbel.
Chica: Abu Simbel is a very famous Egyptian site and was shown in several movies, such as James Bond and The Mummy Returns.
Pumuckl: Do I have to take anything with me, Mommy?
Chica: Well, take our Human Mommy's camera, maybe we can take some pictures of you and the temples and take a hat and lots of water! This area is the almost hottest one in Egypt!
Pumuckl: Keda tmam, ya Mommy?
Chica: Excellent, Pumuckl! Let's go!
Chica: You know Pumuckl, Abu Simbel was forgotten for a very longtime. It was just discovered by a man called Burckhardt in 1813 who "stumbled upon" the top of it.
Pumuckl: Why nobody has seen this before? It's too big too be hidden.
Chica: Well, the temple facade was covered all over by sand and just the upper part was visible. 4 years after Burckhardt another man finally discovered the entrance door. But unfortunately he stole all values from the temple.
Pumuckl: That's not nice of him. Unfortunately a lot of discoverers are that bad... But tell me Mommy, how did they make such a big temple?
Chica: The twin temples were originally carved out of the mountainside. Imagine just which work this has been, Pumuckl! But the place we are now is not where it was carved out. The temples have been relocated when the Lake Nasser, which is the artificial water reservoir formed after the building of the Aswan High Dam on the River Nile was created.
Pumuckl: What? They moved these huge temples? How???
Chica: The temples were cut into large blocks, dismantled and moved more than 60 meters up the sandstone cliff where they had been built. Up there the blocks have been put together again and have been covered with an artificial mountain. When we will go inside later you can even see the lines where the blocks have been cut, also they show an exhibition of the whole process there. The whole relocation project costed USD $40 million.!
Pumuckl: Wow, all this because of the High Dam...
Chica: Yes Pumuckl, this was a major project in Egypt and had many consequences.
Chica: The greater temple was built for 3 gods, Amun Ra, Ra-Horakhty, and Ptah and of course for Ramses himself. The temple is 35 meter wide and its statues are 20 meters high.
Pumuckl: Who are the 4 people at the facade?
Chica: All the 4 statues represent Ramses II, seated on a throne and wearing the double crown of Upper and Lower Egypt.
Pumuckl: Why the left statue is kaputt, eh sorry, broken?
Chica: It was damaged in an earthquake and only the lower part of the statue is still intact. The head and torso can still be seen at the statue's feet.
Chica: The temple is complex and also has many side chambers. Inside you will see pillars, for example eight huge pillars showing Ramses as Osiris, the god of the Underworld, and beautiful bas reliefs.
Original Photo by Son of Groucho
Chica: The Nefertari Temple is the smaller temple of the two and was dedicated to the goddess Hathor and to Nefertari who was Ramses's favorite wife. I have read in Wikipedia that Ramses had 200 wives and concubines!
Pumuckl: Wohooo, that's quite much, even for a pharaoh! And who are the people in this facade?
Chica: On each side of the entrance you can see a statue of Nefertari standing between 2 statues of Ramses. At their feet are their kids, the princes and princesses, shown. All statues have the same height, which was something new as usually the pharaoh was the biggest statue.
Pumuckl: One last question, Mommy: Do you know why it's called Abu Simbel? I know Abu means father but...
Chica: It's believed that the first tour guide at this site was called Abu Simbel, that's why they called it Abu Simbel.
Pumuckl: It seems he was a great tour guide! But I cannot imagine he was better than you, Mommy.
Chica: Thank you, Pumuckl, you are too sweet.
More information on Abu Simbel at Wikipedia.
PS: The Top Commenter for June will be announced in tomorrow's post.
Chica: Today we will go to Upper Egypt, Pumuckl. On the way to Aswan on the western bank of Lake Nasser lays Abu Simbel. Abu Simbel consists of two temples which have been built more than 3,000 years ago by Ramses II. It is said that it took 20 years to finish Abu Simbel.
Chica: Abu Simbel is a very famous Egyptian site and was shown in several movies, such as James Bond and The Mummy Returns.
Pumuckl: Do I have to take anything with me, Mommy?
Chica: Well, take our Human Mommy's camera, maybe we can take some pictures of you and the temples and take a hat and lots of water! This area is the almost hottest one in Egypt!
Pumuckl: Keda tmam, ya Mommy?Chica: Excellent, Pumuckl! Let's go!
Chica: You know Pumuckl, Abu Simbel was forgotten for a very longtime. It was just discovered by a man called Burckhardt in 1813 who "stumbled upon" the top of it.
Pumuckl: Why nobody has seen this before? It's too big too be hidden.
Chica: Well, the temple facade was covered all over by sand and just the upper part was visible. 4 years after Burckhardt another man finally discovered the entrance door. But unfortunately he stole all values from the temple.
Pumuckl: That's not nice of him. Unfortunately a lot of discoverers are that bad... But tell me Mommy, how did they make such a big temple?
Chica: The twin temples were originally carved out of the mountainside. Imagine just which work this has been, Pumuckl! But the place we are now is not where it was carved out. The temples have been relocated when the Lake Nasser, which is the artificial water reservoir formed after the building of the Aswan High Dam on the River Nile was created.
Pumuckl: What? They moved these huge temples? How???
Chica: The temples were cut into large blocks, dismantled and moved more than 60 meters up the sandstone cliff where they had been built. Up there the blocks have been put together again and have been covered with an artificial mountain. When we will go inside later you can even see the lines where the blocks have been cut, also they show an exhibition of the whole process there. The whole relocation project costed USD $40 million.!
Pumuckl: Wow, all this because of the High Dam...
Chica: Yes Pumuckl, this was a major project in Egypt and had many consequences.
Chica: The greater temple was built for 3 gods, Amun Ra, Ra-Horakhty, and Ptah and of course for Ramses himself. The temple is 35 meter wide and its statues are 20 meters high.
Pumuckl: Who are the 4 people at the facade?
Chica: All the 4 statues represent Ramses II, seated on a throne and wearing the double crown of Upper and Lower Egypt.
Pumuckl: Why the left statue is kaputt, eh sorry, broken?
Chica: It was damaged in an earthquake and only the lower part of the statue is still intact. The head and torso can still be seen at the statue's feet.
Chica: The temple is complex and also has many side chambers. Inside you will see pillars, for example eight huge pillars showing Ramses as Osiris, the god of the Underworld, and beautiful bas reliefs.
Original Photo by Son of GrouchoChica: The Nefertari Temple is the smaller temple of the two and was dedicated to the goddess Hathor and to Nefertari who was Ramses's favorite wife. I have read in Wikipedia that Ramses had 200 wives and concubines!
Pumuckl: Wohooo, that's quite much, even for a pharaoh! And who are the people in this facade?
Chica: On each side of the entrance you can see a statue of Nefertari standing between 2 statues of Ramses. At their feet are their kids, the princes and princesses, shown. All statues have the same height, which was something new as usually the pharaoh was the biggest statue.
Pumuckl: One last question, Mommy: Do you know why it's called Abu Simbel? I know Abu means father but...
Chica: It's believed that the first tour guide at this site was called Abu Simbel, that's why they called it Abu Simbel.
Pumuckl: It seems he was a great tour guide! But I cannot imagine he was better than you, Mommy.
Chica: Thank you, Pumuckl, you are too sweet.
More information on Abu Simbel at Wikipedia.
PS: The Top Commenter for June will be announced in tomorrow's post.
26 comments:
Abu Simbel is incredible! Our humans really enjoyed visiting the temples there when they were in Egypt. The colours inside are just magnificent! So well preserved. :)
wow, always enjoy your egypt tours, thx for sharing them with us, i love traveling & discovering other cultures, really wanna go there in the future:)
we like how Chica & Pumuckl face expression on the pictures, they really know how to pose for the blog;)
Your Mommy is a great tour guide!
Totally awesome! Will you be able to give us tours of every place in Egypt before you head to Germany?
your sister, Laila
What a spectacular looking temple. I really must visit Egypt some day.
@ Laila:
I don't think we can cover all :-) Egypt is a big country and rich of ancient sites. But we are already preparing a schedule for the last 4 Tours Through Egypt.
I love your tours Ana, it's sooo good to stop by and read your interesting facts. I hope with the moving to Germany we can learn more about that country too :)
Ohh, and that hat and glasses on the cats look awesome :)
I wish I could visit Egypt some day, only bad thing is that I won't have such great guides like Chica, Pumuckl and their Mommy :)
Your mommy is a great tour guide, we always learn lots about Egypt and find it very interesting, too. We were excited to read mom's comment abut another 4 tours for July...Yay!
Mindy & Moe
Great tour of Egypt. Tell your mom thanks. How wonderful to have the pictures of the kitties at each of the sites to assist.
Good to see that Chica brought plenty of fluid to stay hydrated! I hear Egypt is hot ; )
Abu Simbel was one of the places I didn't get to go to in Egypt, so thanks for the tour, Chica!
Can you imagine a man building a monument like that for his wife today? Nefertari must have been some woman!
What an awesome tour!
Purrs
Abby
What a coinkydink! We wuz jes watchin the James Bond moovie yoo wrote about! I tole Tenny "that's whare Chica and Purmuckl live"! It looks like one big litterbocks but it has a lotta history. Thanks for sharing!
Another great tour! Chica is such a wonderful and knowledgeable guide. =^_^=
Thanks for being one of my top 25 ec droppers!
You are a fantastic tour guide, Chica! Everything in Egypt seems larger than life - just magnificent!
Thank you for being one of my June EC Top Drops!
Kristie
This Side of Eternity
www.savingdollarsandsense.com
thanks! you're one of my top droppers. cheers!
Wow! You make history come alive! We will miss your Egypt tours when you move. Will you be doing tours of Germany?
Yap, we will :-)
Abu Simbel looks fabyoolus and yur pickshures are so beeyootiful and amazing! Momma would love love love to go to Egypt sommeday!
Kittyhugs and purrs from MaoMao!
Wow, what amazing temples. We did not know that they were moved. What a project that must have been. Thanks for giving us such a great history lesson.
Love the tour; what a refreshing fun idea!
WE simply love your tours of Egypt!!
Thank you.
Purrs Mickey
Daddy should bild a monument to mom...he always sez she's his favorite wif...wait, he only has one wife. Daaaaaad, yoor goofy.
Very cool tour!
My cat is actually from Egypt-- I'll have to blog about him one day:)
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