Egypt

50th anniversary of the Nubia Campaign

UNESCO

If you have the opportunity to visit the Nubia Museum in Aswan do be sure not miss the ground floor exhibit of photographs which were taken during the rescue operation. They are quite remarkable and show not only the temples before and during rescue, but the excavation of early tombs. Wonderful. The photo on this post is one of mine, showing one of the photographs at the museum.

UNESCO, Egypt and Sudan have started commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Nubia Campaign, a defining example of international solidarity when countries understood the universal nature of heritage and the universal importance of its conservation.

The Egyptian and Sudanese governments' request - in April and October 1959 respectively - for UNESCO's help to save the 3,000-year-old monuments and temples of ancient Nubia from an area that was to be flooded by the Aswan Dam marked the start of unprecedented campaign.

"A moving demonstration of the miracles that can be achieved by international cooperation," in the words of the Director-General of UNESCO, Koïchiro Matsuura who sent a message to the participants of a meeting held in Egypt to commemorate the Nubia Campaign. "Saving the temples and artefacts of Nubia became an urgent priority transcending national interests and pride, and, as we all know, the international community brilliantly rose to that challenge. Need it be further stressed that such international solidarity is more than ever timely in the current period of global, financial, environmental and social crisis..."

- Exhibition: Abu Simbel - The Salvaging Of The Monuments
Al Ahram Weekly (Nevine El-Aref) To highlight Italy's help in rescuing Nubian monuments during the Salvage Campaign of the 1960s and 70s, a photographic exhibition is on show at Al-Sama Khana. Nevine El-Aref recalls the events as she tours the display...

- What It Means To Be Listed As A Unesco World Heritage Site
The Star Online (Bhag Singh) I always feel a little guilty about sneaking these somewhat global articles into an Egyptology blog, but in my own defence there is a chunk in the article about salvaging Abu Simbel from the advancing waters of Lake Nasser...

- Restoring Nubia's Monuments
http://www.algomhuria.net.eg/gazette/2/"As part of the international campaign to rescue Nubia's monuments, a large project that includes the rebuilding of the Temple of Thutmose III in Suboe' Valley, is being carried out by the Fund for Nubian...

- Sixty Years Of Beauty
http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2005/765/sc5.htm Looking at the important role of UNESCO and its iniatives in Egypt, past, present and future: "With the UNESCO campaign for safeguarding the Nubia monuments, initiated some 45 years ago, Egypt marked the launch...

- Paris To Host Nubian Exhibition
http://www.sis.gov.eg/online/html12/o060425v.htm "An Egyptian Antiquity delegation will soon fly to Paris to participate in the "Nubia Campaign: Yesterday and Today" exhibition. It has been organized by UNESCO headquarters in Paris on 13 April. This exhibition...

Egypt