Philae - Jewel of the Nile

In 1960 UNESCO started a project in order to try and save the buildings on the island from the destructive effect of the ever increasing waters of the Nile.

The temples had been practically intact since the ancient days, but with each inundation the situation worsened and in the sixties the island was submerged up to a third of the buildings all year round.

First of all a large coffer dam was built, constructed of two rows of steel plates between which a million cubic meters 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 ca 40 000 units, and then transported to the nearby island of Agilkia, situated on higher ground some 500 m away.

The total weight of these blocks were 27.000 tons and some of the blocks weighed as much as 25 tons each. It was all done in two and a half years time.