500 Euros Abu Simbel

Issued as part of the Monnaie de Paris "Trésors du Monde" series, this coin commemorates the UNESCO-led relocation of the Abu Simbel temples between 1964 and 1968 — an engineering operation that cut the two rock-cut temples into over 1,000 blocks, some weighing up to 30 tonnes, and reassembled them 65 meters higher to prevent their submersion beneath Lake Nasser following the construction of the Aswan High Dam. Twenty-three nations contributed funds to the rescue, which became a founding model for international cultural heritage preservation.