Abu Simbel's two rock-cut temples, commissioned by Ramesses II in the 13th century BC, were submerged under Lake Nasser's rising waters following the construction of the Aswan High Dam — until UNESCO coordinated one of the most ambitious archaeological salvage operations ever undertaken, cutting the entire complex into over a thousand numbered blocks and reassembling it on higher ground between 1964 and 1968. Egypt issued commemorative silver throughout the 1990s drawing heavily on that campaign's international goodwill.
Abu Simbel's two rock-cut temples, commissioned by Ramesses II in the 13th century BC, were submerged under Lake Nasser's rising waters following the construction of the Aswan High Dam — until UNESCO coordinated one of the most ambitious archaeological salvage operations ever undertaken, cutting the entire complex into over a thousand numbered blocks and reassembling it on higher ground between 1964 and 1968. Egypt issued commemorative silver throughout the 1990s drawing heavily on that campaign's international goodwill.