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55-707: The International Campaign to Save the Monuments of Nubia was the effort to relocate 22 monuments in Lower Nubia , in Southern Egypt and northern Sudan , between 1960 and 1980. This was done in order to make way for the building of the Aswan Dam , at the Nile's first cataract (shallow rapids), a project launched following the 1952 Egyptian Revolution . This project was undertaken under UNESCO leadership and

110-427: A 1 million cubic metres (35 million cubic feet ) of sand was tipped. Any water that seeped through was pumped away. Next the monuments were cleaned and measured, by using photogrammetry , a method that enables the exact reconstruction of the original size of the building blocks that were used by the ancients. Then every building was dismantled into about 40,000 units from 2 to 25 tons, and then transported to

165-653: A branch of the Paris Museum of Natural History . Desroches Noblecourt, Prof. Lionel Baloud , the head of the Musée de l'Homme , and Colette Roubet later published the study La momie de Ramsès II in 1985 . Christiane Desroches Noblecourt has been awarded several prestigious honours, including in 1975 the gold medal of the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) , and in January 2008,

220-469: A cliff-top settlement, it was transformed into an island. The relocated sites can be grouped as follows: The list of relocated monuments is as follows: One scheme to save the Abu Simbel temples was based on an idea by William MacQuitty to build a clear freshwater dam around the temples, with the water inside kept at the same height as the Nile . There were to be underwater viewing chambers. In 1962

275-570: A coalition of fifty countries. This process led to the creation of the World Heritage Convention in 1972, and thus the system of UNESCO World Heritage Sites . The construction of the Aswan Dam was a key objective of the new regime the Free Officers movement of 1952 in order to better control flooding, provide increased water storage for irrigation and generate hydroelectricity , all of which were seen as pivotal for

330-628: A powerful Cushitic speaking race which controlled Lower Nubia and some cities in Upper Egypt. Rilly (2019) states: "The Blemmyes are another Cushitic speaking tribe, or more likely a subdivision of the Medjay/Beja people, which is attested in Napatan and Egyptian texts from the 6th century BC on." On page 134: "From the end of the 4th century until the 6th century AD, they held parts of Lower Nubia and some cities of Upper Egypt." He mentions

385-899: The Centre des études et de documentation d’archéologie égyptienne (CEDAE) , and in 1954, reportedly Amer sent a telegram and letter to UNESCO in Paris suggesting as a possible archive specialist for the new Centre, one of which was Desroches Noblecourt, then curator of Egyptian antiquities at the Louvre . Desroches Noblecourt was chosen as the UNESCO 's advisor to the CEDAE and she arrived in Cairo in November 1954 . Amer stated that he never suggested Desroches Noblecourt but they worked well together. They began with

440-498: The industrialization of Egypt . The building of the dam was to result in the creation of Lake Nasser , which would submerge the banks of the Nile along its entire 479 km (298 mi) length south of the dam – flooding the entire area of historical Lower Nubia. This region was home to 22 critical historical sites, including but not limited to the Abu Simbel temples; as well as the temples at Philae , Kalabsha and Amada . It

495-579: The Aswan Lower Dam, then in both 1912 and 1933 due to the rising water levels, and a fourth time after the creation of the Aswan High Dam . The forced relocation stripped many native Nubians of their ancestral homelands, with the compensation of unsuitable homes for living and agriculture. This forced many Nubians to immigrate to cities in Egypt and later Sudan. A timeline of the key dates of

550-741: The Documentation and Study Centre for the History of the Art and Civilization of Ancient Egypt) in Cairo under the direction of Christiane Desroches Noblecourt , who was a French Egyptologist at the Louvre . The Study Centre worked on documenting over 400 private tombs, primarily through photography and photogrammetry . By September of 1955, field expeditions under Dr. Ahmed Badawi were undertaken in Nubia with UNESCO permission. By 1959, Tharwat Okasha ,

605-406: The Documentation and Study Centre for the History of the Art and Civilization of Ancient Egypt) in Cairo , held a leading role within the archeological survey aspect of the campaign. She was tasked with the manner in which notes would be circulated during the project, suggesting that archaeological missions working in Nubia would be required to hand over copies publications and notes produced during

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660-694: The Egyptian Minister of Culture sought to work alongside UNESCO to safeguard and preserve Nubian monuments. He met with the Assistant Director-General of UNESCO, René Maheu to submit his appeal, which was quickly reassured to be responded to by Director-General Vittorino Veronese . A proposal was submitted to the Executive Board of UNESCO, which would later mount the International Campaign to Save

715-529: The Louvre, Desroches Noblecourt organised the Tutankhamun exhibition in 1967. The exhibition entitled "Tutankhamun and His Times" was visited by over a million people. The proceeds from the exhibition went to the Abu Simbel rescue fund , totaling nearly US$ 500,000. The exhibition was bigger, with more objects from the tomb, than had previously toured North America and Japan. Desroches Noblecourt negotiated

770-840: The Medjay. In Upper Egypt and Northern Lower Nubia was present a series of cultures, the Badarian , Amratian , Gerzean , A-Group , B-Group , and C-Group . Linguistic evidence indicates that Cushitic languages were spoken in Lower Nubia, an ancient region which straddles present day Southern Egypt and Northern Sudan, before the arrival of North Eastern Sudanic languages in the Middle Nile Valley. Christiane Desroches Noblecourt Christiane Desroches Noblecourt ( French pronunciation: [kʁistjan dɛʁɔʃ nɔbləkuʁ] ; 17 November 1913 – 23 June 2011)

825-451: The Monuments of Nubia. This was officially began after Vittorino Veronese 's appeal to the Executive Board of UNESCO on March 8, 1960. During the proposal, he described it: "It is not easy to choose between a heritage of the past and the present well-being of a people, living in need in the shadow of one of history's most splendid legacies, it is not easy to choose between temples and crops." Doing so, he pointed out various concerns regarding

880-477: The UNESCO banner; it cost some US$ 40 million (equivalent to $ 632 million in 2024). Between 1964 and 1968, the entire site was carefully cut into large blocks (up to 30 tons, averaging 20 tons), dismantled, lifted and reassembled in a new location 65 metres higher and 200 metres back from the river, in one of the greatest challenges of archaeological engineering in history. Some structures were even saved from under

935-611: The Upper Nubian Kingdom of Kerma . The New Kingdom occupied all of Nubia and Lower Nubia was especially closely integrated into Egypt, but with the Third Intermediate Period it became the centre of the independent state of Kush based at Napata at some point. Perhaps around 591 BC the capital of Kush was transferred south to Meroe and Lower Nubia became dominated by the Island of Meroe. With

990-548: The campaign is shown below: The campaign was primarily led by Tharwat Okasha , the Egyptian Minister of Culture , René Maheu , Assistant Director-General of UNESCO, and Christiane Desroches Noblecourt , French Egyptologist at the Louvre . The number of relocated monuments have been stated as 22 or 24 depending on how an individual site is defined. Only one archaeological site in Lower Nubia, Qasr Ibrim , remains in its original location and above water; previously

1045-671: The chapel of Abu Oda (cut out of rock), the chapels of Qasr Ibrim (the rest of which has remained in situ ), and many rock inscriptions and drawings, were also saved. Early in the campaign, the West German authorities offered to dismantle and re-erect the Temple of Kalabsha , the largest temple in all of Lower Nubia , with costs paid by West Germany . Germany's interest in making a significant contribution stemmed from its Egyptological heritage, including Lepsius' milestone work Denkmäler aus Ägypten und Äthiopien , as more specifically

1100-565: The city of Aswan ): Relocated sites, south of the Aswan Low Dam Sites in their original location, north of the Aswan Low Dam – although these five sites are grouped within the "Nubian Monuments from Abu Simbel to Philae", they are neither Nubian, nor between Abu Simbel and Philae Lower Nubia Its history is also known from its long relations with Egypt , particularly neighboring Upper Egypt . The region

1155-405: The commitment she had made in the name of her country. Reportedly on learning of it, he demanded, “Madame, how dare you say that France will save the temple, without authorization from my government?” Noblecourt replied, “General, how dare you make an appeal on the radio without authorization from Pétain ?” De Gaulle agreed to honour Noblecourt's promise. Ultimately the rescue project, including

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1210-558: The eastern seaboard of Africa and from Sudan to Kenya, including the Ethiopian Highlands. Julien Cooper (2017) also states that Eastern Sudanic speaking populations from southern and west Nubia gradually replaced the earlier Cushitic speaking populations of this region: In Lower Nubia there was an Afroasiatic language, likely a branch of Cushitic. By the end of the first millennium CE this region had been encroached upon and replaced by Eastern Sudanic speakers arriving from

1265-698: The fall of the Meroitic Empire in the fourth century AD the area became home to X-Group , also known as the Ballana culture who were likely the Nobatae . This evolved into the Christian state of Nobatia by the fifth century. Nobatia was merged with the Upper Nubian state of Makuria , but Lower Nubia became steadily more Arabized and Islamicized and eventually became de facto independent as

1320-528: The first time, namely the Tutankhamun exhibition at the Louvre in 1967 and Ramses II in 1976. In 1972, in recognition of France's contributions to the International Campaign to Save the Monuments of Nubia , the government of Anwar Sadat gave to the Louvre the bust of Amenhotep IV (Akhenaten). In 1963, Desroches Noblecourt published Tutankhamen: Life and Death of a Pharaoh , and in the years following, as head of Egyptian Antiquities at

1375-464: The idea was made into a proposal by architects Jane Drew and Maxwell Fry and civil engineer Ove Arup . They considered that raising the temples ignored the effect of erosion of the sandstone by desert winds. However, the proposal, though acknowledged to be extremely elegant, was rejected. The salvage of the Abu Simbel temples began in 1964 by a multinational team of archeologists, engineers and skilled heavy equipment operators working together under

1430-532: The linguistic relationship between the modern Beja language and the ancient Cushitic Blemmyan language which dominated Lower Nubia and that the Blemmyes can be regarded as a particular tribe of the Medjay: The Blemmyan language is so close to modern Beja that it is probably nothing else than an early dialect of the same language. In this case, the Blemmyes can be regarded as a particular tribe of

1485-678: The nearby Island of Agilkia , situated on higher ground some 500 metres (1,600 ft) away. Foundations of the Philae monuments were ready on Agilkia by April 1977, and the transfer itself took place between 1977 and 1980. In addition to participating directly in the high profile salvage operations of Abu Simbel and Philae , the Egyptian Antiquities Organization carried out the rescue of many smaller temples and monuments alone using their own financial and technical means. As early as 1960 Egypt had started to rescue

1540-469: The need to preserve Nubian cultural heritage sites in Egypt and Sudan while promoting the welfare of Egypt in relation to the proposed Aswan Dam . The proposal was accepted, by the participation of many member states of UNESCO, though with the rule that 50% of finds would be relocated to museums in participating countries. The intention of the campaign became to perform a massive archeological survey of

1595-501: The objects that would form the exhibition, and they included the gold mask of Tutankhamun , marking the first time it entered Europe. In May 1976, there was an exhibition of Ramses II at the Grand Palais , and by September it had had over 650,000 visitors. In September 1976, Ramses II's mummified body flew into Paris, accompanied from Cairo by Desroches Noblecourt, where it underwent testing at Musée de l'Homme at Trocaclero,

1650-410: The oversight of UNESCO, insisting that they could meet demands of donors without UNESCO involvement. Despite this, UNESCO continued a significant amount of oversight throughout the duration of the campaign. The construction of Lake Nasser , as well as the excavations required in the Nubia campaign, involved the relocation of many Nubians native to the region. First in 1902 due to the construction of

1705-486: The preservation of ancient Nubian temples from flooding caused by the new Aswan High Dam . With the existing dam's capacity not meeting the needs of Egypt's ever-growing population, in 1954 the government of Gamal Abdel Nasser decided to build a new dam. The monuments of ancient Nubia would have been flooded if the project had gone ahead as planned. Mustafa Amer , head of the Antiquities Service , set up

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1760-499: The project by the global coalition of nations. The vast majority of these contributions funded the operations at Abu Simbel and Philae. In April 1979, the monuments were inscribed on the World Heritage List as the "Nubian Monuments from Abu Simbel to Philae". The inscribed area includes ten sites, five of which were relocated (all south of the city of Aswan ), and five of which remain in their original position (near to

1815-465: The project to the Centre, and abiding by the Centre's publication techniques. Excavations from Egypt would be only required to send over copies of notes, without requiring copies of publications or oversight into said publications. This is theorized to be related to the post-colonial desire to fortify Egyptian identity in a cultural history following the 1952 Egyptian Revolution . The removal of temples

1870-633: The recording of the Tombs of the Nobles at Luxor, but in early 1955, Desroches Noblecourt reported back to UNESCO that the potential flooding of the monuments of ancient Nubia by the new Aswan High Dam were of immediate importance. In 1959, Desroches Noblecourt encouraged Sarwat Okasha , the Egyptian Minister of Culture to ask UNESCO for its support. Later that year both the Sudanese and Egyptian governments requested UNESCO's support and together they launched

1925-474: The region, and the second was to rescue temples and sites through feats of engineering. The level of fieldwork for the project had not been previous undertaken on equivalent scale or length of time, leaving many to praise the campaign as a feat of the field of archeology. Christiane Desroches Noblecourt , who remained in charge of the CEDAE ( Centre d'Étude et de Documentation sur l'Ancienne Égypte , in English

1980-419: The relocation operations, many countries participated in excavation and preservation work. Some of this work took place at the CEDAE ( Centre d'Étude et de Documentation sur l'Ancienne Égypte , in English the Documentation and Study Centre for the History of the Art and Civilization of Ancient Egypt), founded in Cairo in 1955 to coordinate the academic efforts: The table below summarizes the contributions towards

2035-467: The rest of the temple with the same railway system. Amada was considered "one of the most distinctive and best preserved examples of the art of the 18th dynasty." Given the impending flooding of a wide area, Egypt and Sudan encouraged archaeological teams from across the world to carry out work as broadly as possible. Approximately 40 teams from across the world came to the region, to explore an area of approximately 500 km in length. In addition to

2090-569: The south (by the peoples of the Kerma culture ), with North Eastern Sudanic languages from Upper Nubia later replacing the Cushitic languages of Lower Nubia. Julien Cooper (2017) states that in antiquity, Cushitic languages were spoken in Lower Nubia (the northernmost part of modern-day Sudan): In antiquity, Afroasiatic languages in Sudan belonged chiefly to the phylum known as Cushitic, spoken on

2145-553: The south and west, to be identified first with Meroitic and later migrations attributable to Nubian speakers. In Handbook of Ancient Nubia, Claude Rilly (2019) states that Cushitic languages once dominated Lower Nubia along with the Ancient Egyptian language. Rilly (2019) states: "Two Afro-Asiatic languages were present in antiquity in Nubia, namely Ancient Egyptian and Cushitic." Rilly (2019) mentions historical records of

2200-546: The state of al-Maris . Most of Lower Nubia was formally annexed by Egypt during the Ottoman conquest of 1517, and it has remained a part of Egypt since then, with only the south being Sudan . Linguistic evidence indicates that Cushitic languages were spoken in Lower Nubia, an ancient region which straddles present day Southern Egypt and part of Northern Sudan, and that Nilo-Saharan languages were spoken in Upper Nubia to

2255-410: The temples of Taffeh (or Taffa), Debod and Qertassi, followed by Dakka and Maharraqa in 1961 and Dendur in 1962. The temples of Wadi es-Sebua and Beit el Wali and the rock tomb of Pennut at Aniba were moved in 1964 with the support of a US grant, whilst the subsequent re-erection was carried out with Egyptian resources. The Temple of Derr was rescued in 1965, and the temples of Gerf Husein ,

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2310-413: The temples' reliefs were washed away. Also, the bricks of the Philae temples soon became encrusted with silt and other debris carried by the Nile . With each inundation the situation worsened and in the 1960s the island was submerged up to a third of the buildings all year round. The work began in 1972, and in 1974 a large coffer dam was built, constructed of two rows of steel plates between which

2365-654: The tomb of Tutankhamun , and encouraged by priest and scholar, Father Étienne Drioton , she joined the Egyptian Antiquities department at the Louvre . She studied Egyptology at École du Louvre and received a Diploma in Archaeology in 1935 under Étienne Drioton and Charles Boreux . In 1937, she received her PhD in philology from the École Pratique des Hautes études of the Sorbonne , under Gustave Lefebvre , Alexandre Moret and Raymond Weill . She

2420-527: The transportation and reconstruction of the temples on their new sites, took over twenty years. Desroches Noblecourt and France's role in the International Campaign to Save the Monuments of Nubia saw an improvement in Franco-Egyptian relations, which had been poor since the Suez Canal crisis of 1956. Desroches Noblecourt organized several exhibitions with objects traveling from Egypt, some for

2475-432: The twenty-two year campaign to save the temples of ancient Nubia. Fifty countries contributed funds to save the monuments. The Temple of Amada was a difficult case, because of its small, beautifully painted reliefs. Desroches Noblecourt announced that France would save it. However, more funds were needed for this project. To this end Desroches Noblecourt requested an interview with Charles de Gaulle , who had no idea of

2530-514: The waters of Lake Nasser . In 1902, the Aswan Low Dam was completed on the Nile River by the British. This threatened to submerge many ancient landmarks, including the temple complex of Philae . The height of the dam was raised twice, from 1907 to 1912 and from 1929 to 1934, and the island of Philae was nearly always flooded. In fact, the only times that the complex was not underwater

2585-525: The work of Franz Christian Gau who had documented Kalabsha as early as 1819. In addition to the work of French archaeologists at Abu Simbel , the French government provided significant technical and financial support for the removal of the Temple of Amada . In 1964, the front portion of the temple was dismantled and transported on rails by the U.A.R. Antiquities Service. French archeologists then excavated

2640-473: Was a French Egyptologist . She was the author of many books on Egyptian art and history and was also known for her role in the International Campaign to Save the Monuments of Nubia from flooding caused by the Aswan Dam . She was born Christiane Desroches on 17 November 1913, in Paris , daughter of Louis Desroches (lawyer) and Madeleine Girod. In 1922 she was fascinated by Howard Carter ’s discovery of

2695-495: Was a project of greater difficulty. 18 of the 25 temples in the area affected by the Aswan Dam were rescued in whole or in part during the project. Sites were prioritized by importance, including the most expensive site excavated being Abu Simbel . A honorary committee was first founded by King Gustav VI Adolf of Sweden to create international support for the campaign, with various world political leaders and UNESCO members as participants. An official International Action Committee

2750-533: Was arrested at Moulins but was freed after three days. In 1942, she married André Noblecourt, an engineer, and later security advisor to the national museums of France, International Council of Museums (ICOM) and UNESCO . They had one son. She died on 23 June 2011 at 97. She is buried in Mondement-Montgivroux cemetery in France. Desroches Noblecourt was a leading figure in the campaign for

2805-635: Was described in the UNESCO Courier as "the greatest archaeological rescue operation of all time". In April 1979, the monuments were inscribed on the World Heritage List as the Nubian Monuments from Abu Simbel to Philae , as one of the second group of properties added to the list (the first 12 had been added in 1978). In 1954, UNESCO founded the CEDAE ( Centre d'Étude et de Documentation sur l'Ancienne Égypte , in English

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2860-487: Was established after under the UNESCO Director General in order to secure funding, service, and equipment from participating member states. They decided that UNESCO would be in charge of planning the program of operations, coordination of labor, and the collection of funding. The intention was for them to serve as an intermediaries between donors and the nations of Egypt and Sudan . Egyptians contested

2915-604: Was historically defined as between the historical First and Second Cataracts , which are now both within Lake Nasser. The region was known to Greco-Roman geographers as Triakontaschoinos . It is downstream on the Nile from Upper Nubia . During the Middle Kingdom , Lower Nubia was occupied by Egypt. when the Egyptians withdrew during the second Intermediate Period , Lower Nubia seems to have become part of

2970-620: Was the first woman to be a fellow of the French Institute of Oriental Archaeology (IFAO), and was also the first woman to lead an archaeological dig, in 1938. She excavated at the IFAO sites at Edfu , Deir el-Medina , Medamud and Karnak North from 1938 to 1940. In 1940, during World War II , she returned to Paris and joined the Resistance , hiding the Louvre's Egyptian treasures in free areas of France. In December 1940, she

3025-407: Was when the dam's sluices were open from July to October. During this period it was proposed that the temples be relocated, piece by piece, to nearby islands, such as Bigeh or Elephantine . However, the temples' foundations and other architectural supporting structures were strengthened instead. Although the buildings were physically secure, the island's attractive vegetation and the colors of

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