Memory of the day:- Campaign to save monuments of Nubia completed in 1980

CAIRO – 10 March 2021: March 10 in the year 1980 marks the successful completion of what is considered UNESCO’s largest and most important archaeological rescue operations in history. It is the campaign to save the monuments of Nubia.

Photo via Egypt's Min. of Tourism & Antiquities

In 1959 Egypt requested assistance from UNESCO in the protection and rescue of its endangered monuments and sites from the rising waters that will result from the construction of the high dam. 

Photo via Egypt's Min. of Tourism & Antiquities

In 1960, the Director-General of UNESCO launched an appeal to Member States for an International Campaign to Save the Monuments of Nubia.

Photo via Egypt's Min. of Tourism & Antiquities

This appeal resulted in the excavation and recording of hundreds of sites, the recovery of thousands of objects, and the relocation of a number of important temples to a higher ground, the most famous of them were the complexes of Abu Simbel and Philae.