The restored New Kalabsha Island development project is awaiting President Mubarak's official inauguration. As Culture Minister Farouk Hosni toured the site this week Nevine El-Aref tagged along Click to view caption Visitors will soon be able to tour the magnificent temples of the New Kalabsha Island, 56 kilometres south of Aswan. The temples -- Kalabsha, Beit Al- Wali, Gerf Hussein and the Kiosk of Kartassi -- have been restored, and the area surrounding them revamped and provided with tourist facilities. The temples were originally transported to the present site courtesy of the German Federal Republic within the framework of a UNESCO-sponsored salvage operation in the 1960s. "This is the second phase of the development plan implemented last year by the Ministry of Culture to upgrade Nubian temples," said Zahi Hawass, general secretary of the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA). "Ever since the feverish operations in 1968, when the temples were dismantled and transported to this site from Nubia, they have stood in the middle of the parched land, like a bohemian masterpiece in the middle of an unfurnished but newly painted lounge." Now at last, the temples are in the limelight again. Apart from the twin Abu Simbel Temple complex, which took priority in the project to save Nubia's ancient heritage, the Kalabsha Temple compound was the most important. It included the main temple of Kalabsha, the largest free- standing temple in Nubia; Beit Al-Wali, the smallest temple built by Ramses II; Gerf Hussein, the first temple he constructed in Nubia; and the Kiosk of Kartassi, known as a symbolic birthplace of the gods. To mark the completion of the restoration and development project, before the official inauguration of New Kalabsha by President Mubarak, a high ranking delegation of the SCA, headed by Culture Minister Farouk Hosni, embarked early this week on an inspection tour. "At last this has become a tourist destination like Philae and Abu Simbel," said Hawass, "and it is easily accessible. A wooden dock has been constructed and Lake Nasser cruise vessels can easily transport their clients to the temple compound. Even Aswan inhabitants can hire a motor boat and make their way there." "We cleared the Kalabsha and Beit Al- Wali Temples of accumulated dust and sand," said Ayman Abdel-Moneim, the archaeologist responsible for the development project. He explained that because the island was off the beaten track it suffered from years of neglect as the temples became a sanctuary for bats, insects and snakes. "To clear the temples of their unwelcome occupants took more than six months," Abdel-Moneim said. "When we found that some of the bats refused to move, we had to light up the temples at night over a period of two months before we could finally get rid of them," he added. To enhance the island's attractions and encourage visitors to tour its remarkable monuments a path has been paved with slabs of granite, brought from the Aswan quarries, to connect the Kalabsha and Beit Al-Wali Temples to the Kiosk of Kertassi and the Gerf Hussein Temple. Apart from clearing debris and restoring and lighting the temples, the current project's highlight has been the reconstruction of the Gerf Hussein temple. "This was no easy task," said Hussein Ahmed Hussein the engineer responsible for the project. "It took almost 20 months of intensive study of the dismantled temple before we could commence reconstruction," he said. Hussein explains that when the project started and as workers were brushing away the sand to reach the ground rock, they came upon engraved blocks, columns and two huge statues of Ramses II. These forgotten items, that belonged to the original Gerf Hussein Temple compound, were left on the site in 1964. The blocks were in poor state, having suffered from over 30 years of neglect. "After studying the blocks, reinforcing and restoring them, reconstruction became easier and it took only two months to complete the job," said Hussein. "It really is a brilliant piece of work that the young Egyptian archaeologists have executed," commented Culture Minister Farouk Hosni, adding that the reconstruction of Gerf Hussein Temple was "a dream come true." Kamal Barakat the director general of the Nubia fund said that the archaeological objects that were scattered throughout the island before have now been put on display with a long-term plan of developing an open air museum. Among these are Seti I's Victory Stela and a collection of Old Kingdom rock graffiti featuring hunting scenes. A cafeteria and a small visitors' centre, similar to the one built on the threshold of the lofty Abu Simbel Temple, will be constructed on Kalabsha Island.
