Abu Simbel. A re-lecture after half a century

Abstract: In the past century, at the end of the fifty, the project of the Aswan High Dam, put the monuments of Nubia in danger. UNESCO promoted the “Nubia Campaign” to involve western countries in the salvage of the Abu Simbel Temples. The survey of the area, essential for the operations, was made by Institut Géographique National Français (from 1956 to 1963), using innovative -for those times- technologies like the photogrammetry. As it is well known, the salvage of the monumental area was done cutting the statues and the buildings in parts and moving them to a safe position near their original site where they were reconstructed in the better possible way. After 50 years, it is possible to attempt a new reading of this impressive operation, analyzing the original photographic survey made by IGN and applying the same methodology used in the past with new software: through the stereoscopic photographs and the coordinates taken during the survey campaigns it is possible to digitally reconstruct the main parts of the Great Temple façade, into a digital 3d model. This will be an interesting contribution to the knowledge of this monument, offering a reconstructive representation of the original temple. But the research project is intended to go far behind this step, if a survey made using laser scanner technology will be possible in the next months, there will be the opportunity to compare the old survey made on the original site of the monuments and the new one on the actual dislocation, to reveal a detailed map of the differences after the move and to investigate about the state of the monument. The poster proposed here will show the state of the work in this challenging research.