The Sun Festival of Abu Simbel Temple

Egypt Vacation Tours team is glad to present this article discussing the Sun Festival of Abu Simbel Temple for its agents.

Egypt, especially Aswan waits a unique phenomenon happening in Abu Simbel city twice yearly. It is the illumination of the sun on the Holy of Holies of the great Abu Simbel Temple.

Let me explain this phenomenon to you Nowadays, the sun illuminates the Holy of Holies of the great Abu Simbel Temple on February 22nd and October 22nd, but before the project of UNESCO for rescuing the Nubian monuments, the sun illuminated the temple on February 21nd and October 21nd. 

What improving the ancient Egyptians genius is that the chamber of the Holy of Holies contains four statues, but the sun illuminates only three statues (Amun, Re-Harakty, and Ramesses II statue) except the statue of Ptah, the god of darkness in ancient Egyptian myths. Additionally, this phenomenon occurs on the same date every year. 

This phenomenon takes 20 minutes during the sunrise. 

Says about this phenomenon   There are opinions say that the ancient Egyptians chose the days of the phenomenon, occurring precisely and on purpose:

• There is an opinion says that this date refers to the beginning of the sowing and harvest seasons.
• But another opinion says that this date refers to the birth and coronation days of king Ramesses II

Whatever the case, this phenomenon refers to the ingenuity and mastery of the ancient Egyptians in both engineering and astronomy fields.