Original subtitles

(upbeat music)

Three centuries after the first discoveries,

Egypt continues to fascinate us.

Every month that goes by,

reveals new treasures buried under the desert sand.

(upbeat music)

This fragment of nose was found in the area

during an archeological dig.

So it was stuck back on.

It hadn't gone far.

Temples,

pyramids,

necropolises,

and ancient cities are just some of the wonders

that bear witness to the splendor of past pharaohs

and their heirs.

The Greeks used to make cakes called pyramis.

When they came to Egypt,

they found colossal stone structures

in the shape of their cakes.

So they gave them the same name.

(instrumental music)

This ancient civilization,

which was thought to have been lost

is constantly reinventing itself

in the Egypt of the 21st century.

We're going to travel through time and space

to rediscover it.

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(oriental music)

On the north coast of Egypt lies Rosetta,

where the Nile flows into the Mediterranean Sea

at the end of its 7,000 kilometer long journey,

which starts in the heart of Africa.

It was in the city that the key

to the culture of the pharaohs was discovered in 1799.

The Rosetta Stone helped French Egyptologist,

John Francois Champollion,

uncover the mystery of hieroglyphs.

From then on, archeologists could read

ancient Egyptians like an open book.

And they discovered that the Nile

was far more than just a river.

The Pharaoh's subjects worshiped it,

celebrated it,

and associated it with numerous deities.

The Nile and its Delta have been

the country's greatest asset since the dawn of time.

Without this life force,

Egypt would be merely a vast and sterile expansive desert.

Upstream from the Delta, the Nile is a majestic river.

On its banks lies the current capital,

Cairo founded by the Arabs in the seventh century.

Today, the river must wind its way

as best as it can through this megalopolis

of 60 million inhabitants.

It is a sprawling city which stretches

almost as far as the Giza pyramids.

Today, these wonders of the ancient world

lay eight kilometers from the river bank.

But in the days of the pharaohs,

the Nile flowed right past them.

That was how the millions of blocks of stone

needed to build these colossal 4,500

year-old structures were transported.

To gain a better understanding of the role

and the importance of the Nile

in Egypt's 4,000 year old culture,

we must go further upstream to the south

where it is the shape of a green snake

winding its way through the hostile deserts.

(instrumental music)

In Luxor, on the site of the ancient city of Thebes,

the river has always governed the daily life of the locals.

The river traffic is dense there.

Egypt is a big country,

and the Nile covers a distance of 1,200 kilometers.

The river remains the natural link between north and south.

You find all sorts of boats on it,

from modest dinghies used by local residents

to cruise ships transporting hundreds of tourists

who have come here to visit the wonders

of the ancient heritage sites,

such as Luxor Temple, for example.

There is one boat which causes a sensation

every time it passes and it has been doing so for 100 years.

And that's the legendary paddle steamer, Sudan.

(oriental music)

You are on board the oldest

and most unique boat in the Nile.

This boat was built in 1885

for the Egyptian Royal family.

For King Fouad and his son, Faruq.

He became the last king of Egypt.

(oriental music)

This was Agatha Christie's boat.

In 1934, she and her husband were invited

to spend a few days in Egypt.

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She began her stay in the old Winter Palace hotel in Luxor,

then she boarded the paddle steamer Sudan

and ended her trip in the Old Cataract Hotel in Aswan.

(instrumental music)

While she was on board, Agatha Christie wrote

the first few chapters of her book

"Death on the Nile".

(epic music)

(instrumental music)

Since the 19th century,

the Western world has had a fascination for Egypt,

to the extent that we talk about Egyptomania.

And when Agatha Christie set her novel "Death on the Nile",

Amongst Egyptian antiquities,

she knew its success was guaranteed.

The 30 kilometer long mountain chain opposite Luxor

helps contribute to the craze for all things Egyptian.

In it lies a sight which captured everyone's imagination,

the Theban Necropolis.

Archeologists have uncovered over 600 tombs here,

the most famous of which are those

of Tutankhamun and Nefertiti, the wife of Ramesses II.

But each year that passes brings a new set of discoveries.

Omaima has explored every nook and cranny

of these desert valleys.

This was her childhood dream.

She fulfilled it when she became an Egyptologist

specializing in the Theban Necropolis.

We are in front of the team of Rekhmire,

who was a Vizier during the reign of Thutmose III.

Viziers is were a bit like modern day prime ministers.

So he was a very important man.

(instrumental music)

Here, we have a whole wall decorated with scenes

showing the Egyptian people, bringing gifts to Rekhmire.

You can see all sorts of things,

herds of oxen,

cows,

calves,

crates full of pigeons,

piles of grain,

jars of beer

and wine.

There are also trays of bread.

These round loaves are typical of Egypt

and you still find them today.

They are called Shamsi,

which means sun bread

because they are left out in the sun to rise.

They are dense, wholemeal loaves.

(instrumental music)

This shows us the riches that came from the Nile,

from the silt of the Nile and from its floodwaters,

from this green band of water,

this green snake which is the lifeblood of Egypt.

Without the Nile, Egypt would not exist

and would never have existed.

We wouldn't be here today.

(oriental music)

96% Of Egypt's population of 100 million

still lives on the banks of the Nile.

On both sides of the river,

lies fertile agricultural land.

The water from the Nile has always been diverted,

channeled, and harnessed for irrigation purposes.

(oriental music)

To water their crops, ancient Egyptians used a shaduf.

This was a tool with a lever mechanism

used to draw water from the river by hand.

Shadufs were still in use in the late 20th century.

Today, they have been replaced by pumps,

which are more practical, but less environmentally friendly.

(oriental music)

Gibril, like his ancestors, helps himself to water

from the river to water his cornfields.

(oriental music)

Water is scarce here.

The only source of water is the Nile

that's why we're lucky to live near the river.

It depends on the season,

but we need a lot of water for our crops.

From here, right up to the sugar cane fields

near the desert,

everything is irrigated by the Nile.

That's a distance of about five kilometers.

(oriental music)

The Nile is the lifeblood of Egypt

because we are a very agricultural nation.

The river is what matters most to us.

There is a famous saying that Egypt

is a gift from the Nile and it's true.

(oriental music)

At Gurna, the town opposite Luxor,

the benefits of the Nile are felt as far as the desert.

Every plot of land is cultivated.

Some are too small for a tractor.

(oriental music)

So farmers like Mohamed use an ancient technique,

the swing plow.

(oriental music)

A plow is better than a tractor.

The tires tamp down soil too much.

If a tractor were to drive over here,

there would be lots of soil with nothing growing in it.

It's better to use oxen.

We inherited this technique from our ancestors.

It's a technique which dates back

to the time of the pharaohs.

The ancient Egyptians used a plow pulled by oxen

You can see images on some of the tombs around here.

(oriental music)

The swing plow hasn't changed since antiquity.

The ancient Egyptians did not use iron.

The plow share was made of wood.

Nowadays, it is made of metal.

But the biggest difference between now and then is

today's farmers own their land.

Whereas the whole of Egypt used to belong to the Pharaoh.

This is our legacy so we look after it.

Before he died, my father said to me,

this plow will bring you luck.

I asked him why.

He replied,

"If you have a small plot of land, surrounded by fields,

"you can use the plows to work the land

"without disturbing your neighbors.

"Then they will pray for you

"because you were careful with their crops."

And he was right.

That is important.

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In the distance,

behind the fields of corn and sugarcane

lies the Theban Mountain with its necropolis.

(instrumental music)

The inhabitants of Gurna rarely venture that far.

Only a few of them have found work there,

more often than not as tomb attendants.

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Yet not long ago, their village stood in that spot.

Living in close proximity to the dead

didn't seem to bother their ancestors.

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In the 19th century, an archeologist who came here

found the owner of the house,

sleeping in a sarcophagus, in a coffin.

Thousands of people lived in the village.

An sadly, a few years ago, it was razed to the ground.

(instrumental music)

To preserve the site, in the 1950s,

the authorities decided to destroy

what people here call Old Gurna.

Traces of the village can be seen all over the sites,

But it is in the tomb of Kharuef

that you really get a feel

for the intense activity that went on here

back when the living rubbed shoulders with the dead.

Kharuef was the steward of Tiye,

the great royal wife of Amenhotep III,

a mother of the famous Akhenaten.

(instrumental music)

This tomb is very beautiful.

But it is not only tourists and archeologists

who think so, come and see.

(oriental music)

This network of underground galleries is like a Swiss cheese

I'm not suggesting that mice have been here,

but humans have,

the inhabitants of Old Gurna searching for buried treasure.

Tomb robbers definitely used to live down here.

You can see dark patches on the ceiling

from the soot that built up here over the years.

You can just imagine these men searching,

making holes here and there.

Like this one, for example,

thanks to the robbers,

we can pass from one tomb to the next,

throughout the whole of Old Gurna.

(instrumental music)

All that remains of Old Gurna are these ruins,

but life goes on.

Opposite the ruins, New Gurna is celebrating

a very important local event this evening, a wedding.

(oriental music)

At weddings, it is traditional for people to come

and greet the bride and groom

and to perform a dance for them on horseback

as you can see here.

The family and friends of the two families

pay their respects in the afternoon.

(oriental music)

And the wedding takes place the next day or the day after.

(oriental music)

(instrumental music)

Ancient Egyptians did not ride horses.

It was only when they fought the Hyksos from Anatolia

in the 16th century, BC,

that they discovered this wonderful animal.

The first horses were a very small breed,

only about 1.2 meters tall.

It was impossible to mount them.

So they had to be harnessed to a chariot.

Ramesses II's chariot was an excellent example.

He would drive his horses with the reins,

tied around his waist to leave his hands free,

to shoot his bow and arrow.

Throughout ancient Egyptian history,

horses remained a luxury,

and one of the most formidable weapons

of the Pharaoh's army.

(oriental music)

(celebratory oriental music)

With the arrival of the Arabs in the seventh century,

and their equestrian tradition,

horses became what they are now in Gurna,

a sign of wealth and of masculine pride.

(celebratory oriental music)

It is dusk in Gurna, the time when the town comes alive.

In these ordinarily calm streets, music fills the air.

(oriental music)

On a patio away from prying eyes,

the men are continuing the wedding celebrations.

The horse is still the guest of honor.

Only this time. The rider has to show off

his skills as a trainer.

The horses dance alongside the men

to the rhythm of tambourines and mizmars,

which are an early form of trumpet.

(celebratory oriental music)

No party is complete in Egypt

without a stick fight or tahtib.

This is an ancient tradition that comes from training

the Pharaoh's soldiers.

This martial arts has very precise rules

that were established in about 3200 BC.

It is still practiced today.

The first of the two fighters

to graze the face of his opponent is declared the winner.

Contact must remain symbolic

and the fight must be simulated.

Over the centuries,

tahtib became more of a dance than a fight

shifting from a military register to a martial arts one,

thanks to the practice of local farmers.

(oriental music)

In the early hours of the morning,

the wedding celebrations are still in full swing.

The men are starting to show signs of tiredness

through the smoke from that shishas.

(instrumental music)

(Islam chanting) (instrumental music)

Every morning, hot air balloons

fly over the ancient site of Thebes.

When the winds are favorable,

lucky passengers get to see

the biggest ancient temple of all,

Karnak.

(oriental music)

It is home to one of the most important gods

in ancient Egypt,

Amun.

Only priests can enter.

Every day, they lay offerings in front of Amun's statue.

Food to give him the energy he needed to unite the universe.

But his energy is contagious, so Karnak has high walls

to protect the uninitiated from contamination.

For ancient Egyptian, Karnak was the equivalent

of a nuclear power station

and the god Amun was the nuclear reactor.

It was a useful place, but a dangerous one.

We are now standing on the famous Sphinx alley,

a three kilometer long road

linking Karnak and Luxor.

(oriental music)

This was the processional route taken by Ramesses II

for the celebration of the feast of Opet

during the second month of the Nile floods

in the inundation season.

The feast of Opet

is one of the most important festivals in ancient Egypt.

It celebrates the start of the Nile floods.

This was the only time in the year when the priests

would bring out statues of the gods.

It was also the only opportunity

for ancient Egyptians to see Amun.

The god must be united with his wife, Mut.

The Pharaoh is present because he is the only person

able to communicate

directly with Amun.

The union between Mut and Amun symbolizes fertility

because the silt deposited by the river

fertilizes vast areas of Egyptian soil every year.

I'm standing on Egyptian soil that dates back

to 1100 to 1200 BC

era of Ramesses II.

But if you look at the lower part of the mosque,

at the level of the door there,

that was built in the 12th century AD,

so 2,500 years later

or a bit less even

because the temple was still in use in Roman times.

So less than a thousand years later,

this part of the temple was covered in mud six meters deep.

(oriental music)

Clearing the temple led to a rediscovery

of this jewel of ancient Egypt.

But the original entrance to the mosque had to be ditched

and then transformed into a window

with an unrestricted view of the great court of Ramesses II.

(instrumental music)

In ancient Egypt,

the floods marked the start of the calendar year.

As with so many events at the time of the pharaohs,

the date was decided by the Nile.

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150 Kilometers upstream at the temple of Kom Ombo,

the proof is etched into the stone for anyone

who knows how to read hieroglyphs.

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Sameh certainly does.

He is a Copt.

This Christian community was present in Egypt

long before the Arab conquest in 640AD.

Copts are direct descendants of ancient Egyptians,

Sameh owes his passion for Egyptology

to his desire to gain a better understanding of his origins.

Part of the answer is to be found on the walls of Kom Ombo

in the form of this perfectly preserved calendar.

The dates were dictated by the Nile and its caprices

and the calendar is still used by the Coptic Church,

and by many Egyptians.

The same calender is still followed by farmers in Egypt,

and it is also the liturgical calendar of the Coptic Church.

Ancients Egyptians invented this 365 day calendar

or to be exact, this 360 day calendar,

plus five feast days at the end of the year,

The 365 days are divided into 12 months of 30 days each

and the 12 months were spread over three seasons,

the inundation,

the emergence, and the harvest.

The ancient Egyptian calendar started in mid July,

around the time of the Nile floods.

Let me show you an example.

This is the first day of the third month

of the season at the inundation.

And this is the second day and the third day, and so on.

This is the calendar we've inherited.

Modern day calendars have 365 days a year.

So they were invented by the ancient Egyptians.

(oriental music)

The Nile has always organized

the lives of Egyptians down to the smallest details.

But in addition to being a life force,

the river is synonymous with danger.

And at the time of the Pharaohs,

anything that represented a threat was turned into a deity.

Kom Ombo is the house of Sobek,

the god with the head of a crocodile.

He is the protector of the Nile,

but he is also a troublemaker

who had to be appeased at all costs.

At Kom Ombo, archeologists found hundreds

of crocodile mummies, proof of an ancient cult.

(oriental music)

Quite a few crocodile remains

were found in the Necropolis, some of them huge.

Very important.

(oriental music)

The ancient Egyptians didn't deitify

or worship the whole species,

just an individual crocodile

chosen according to specific criteria.

And that crocodile was considered to be a living god.

It was pampered and fed honey pastries.

It was presented with crowns and flowers.

It really was treated like a God,.

then when it died, it was mummified like a hod.

(oriental music)

The Nile used to be full of crocodiles.

And it was dangerous for Egyptians to bath in it back then

given how many of them were lurking in its waters.

(oriental music)

Today, there are hardly any crocodiles

left on the banks of the Nile,

but another animal continues to terrorize

and command the respect of locals.

This animal can be seen on numerous ancient carvings.

It is the cobra.

And it acted as a body guard to the Pharaoh

when it was an attack mode.

(instrumental music)

Both now and then the best way to spot a cobra

is to go to a busy neighborhood and look for a snake charmer

or rather a snake hunter.

That is how Attef makes his living

like his father before him

and his father's father before that.

He captures unwanted snakes from houses

or out in the fields,

and then trains them to entertain bystanders.

It's a very sort after job

'cause these snakes end up in people's houses.

As soon as people spot one, they call me.

I'm the only snake charmer left around here.

(oriental music)

As soon as I catch them, I put them in a basket like this.

They live in these baskets until they die.

They die of natural causes.

I don't kill them.

I couldn't do that.

Obviously, the first thing I do is remove their fangs

then I put them in front of me like this,

to get them used to me.

And then I start training them.

It's very simple.

If they try to escape, I catch hold of their tail

and put them back in front of me

until they get used to me, and stop trying to escape.

(instrumental music)

I was only bitten once when catching a snake.

The bite completely paralyzed my finger,

and I had to have surgery on it.

My finger remained stuck in this position.

I had an operation to straighten it out

and it went back to normal.

It was a cobra that did that to me, and one like this,

the same species,

but that one was more aggressive and very wild

plus it was much fatter.

(instrumental music)

No problem, just want a kiss.

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Wild animals weren't the only danger

faced by the ancient Egyptians.

The Nile is a capricious river.

When the floodwaters got out of control,

they destroyed everything in their wake.

The temple of Kom Ombo still bears the scars.

(oriental music)

Temple looks complete, but in actual fact,

the front is missing.

On this side, you have the outer wall.

But there is only one door jam.

You have to imagine a door there

and the outer wall built of mud bricks

which continued along there.

It was carried away by the Nile.

This is a blatant example of the violence

of the Nile and it's floodwaters.

Of course, the Nile has a nourishing side to it.

But in the case of severe flooding,

it can be very destructive

and dangerous.

(instrumental music)

In times of heavy flooding,

the Nile swept up and often destroyed

everything in its midst.

Sometimes the river bed didn't return to its original level.

It would change on a whim.

To protect themselves from the river's worst extremes,

the Egyptians would build mud brick walls.

Karnak Temple, for example,

is surrounded by a gigantic dyke,

building it was a humongous task,

which must've taken the pharaohs brick makers,

several centuries to complete.

(instrumental music)

You can see them here

with their tools in this bust relief.

(instrumental music)

To gain a better understanding of the techniques involved,

we visit a modern day brick maker.

(instrumental music)

Abdallah Salem and his colleagues make bricks

and their methods haven't changed

since the time of the pharaohs.

The first stage is to mix earth, straw and water.

Next, we pour the mixture into rectangular molds,

line them up

and then leave them to dry in the sun.

(oriental music)

People grow up learning this profession.

And when they die, someone else takes up the torch

and history repeats itself.

We must protect our heritage.

(oriental music)

We make between 1,000 and 1,100 bricks a day.

Look at these, for example, the first staged is finished.

These are unfired bricks and some people use them like this.

But other people prefer fired bricks.

It's up to individuals to choose

what they want to build their house with.

In our village,

everybody uses unfired bricks

'cause they are much better adapted to our climate.

Fired bricks don't fare so well in very hot weather.

(instrumental music)

The Nile floods would mobilize

the entire population of Egypt under the pharaohs.

It was a constant source of worry.

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Further south, towards the modern city of Aswan,

there was an obstacle on the river, the first cataract.

This collection of rocks would disappear and reappear

depending on the water level.

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Elephantine Island is one of the biggest islands

in the first cataract.

To get there, Sameh boards a traditional Nile riverboat.

We are on board a felucca.

A felucca is a traditional Egyptian sailing boat.

The Nile has been Egypt's main thoroughfare

since the time of the ancient Egyptians.

Sailing was the most comfortable

and fastest way to travel.

The prevailing wind in Egypt

is a northerly wind

which blows the boats against the current.

The Nile's current goes from south to north

in the opposite direction to the wind,

which is what makes it possible to sail in both directions.

(oriental music)

Elephantine Island was essential

for military operations in ancient Egypt.

From here, they could watch over the Nile,

prevent invasions from the south by boat,

and control the ivory trade

after to which the island is named.

The island isn't just located

in an important strategic position,

it is also the first point of reference

for monitoring the floods.

The measuring system the pharaohs used remained in place

until the 20th century and can be found all along the river

as far north as the Delta.

We are in a Nilometer on Elephantine Island.

This Nilometer was used until relatively recently

to measure flood levels.

These are the graduations

from the 19th century, the Muslim era.

And on the left. you have the graduations

from the time of the pharaohs.

So

when the flood waters rose,

they flowed in here and gradually filled the Nilometer.

The priests used these graduations

to estimate the force of the floodwater

and the speed at which it would rise.

If there was too much water, they had to build shelters.

And if there was not enough water,

they had to dig ponds to retain as much of it as possible.

It was a vital and very important role of the king of Egypt

to manage the floodwaters of the Nile,

and to regulate water supplies for the crops.

(instrumental music)

In ancient Egypt,

everything was thought to be connected to the deities.

If there was a bad flood,

it was because Khnum was unhappy.

Khnum, with his ram's head,

is one of the most important gods in the Egyptian Pantheon.

His name means master of the water

and he controls the Nile floods.

(instrumental music)

Khnum resides on Elephantine Island,

which is the focal point of his kingdom, the first cataract.

The cataracts are the rocks, mostly granite,

which covered this whole region back in the day.

The Nile has carved out a path through them.

You have to imagine this region in the season of inundation

with the water swirling between all these rocks.

In ancient Egyptian mythology,

this was the source of the Nile.

(instrumental music)

If Khnum is the God of the Nile's floods,

Hapi was the God of its source.

He lives on the river bed in a cave under the cataract.

Water spurts out of a jar in his hands.

(instrumental music)

Hapi embodies the benevolent aspect of the Nile.

He is portrayed as an androgynous figure

with a bust and a belly.

Hapi personifies fertility.

When he is with his double,

he represents the link between upper Egypt and lower Egypt

between the Papyrus and the Lotus.

(instrumental music)

The Nile's floodwaters no longer reach the vast cataract.

A few kilometers upstream from Elephantine Island,

a concrete and steel monstrosity is blocking the way

bringing this capricious river under control.

The Aswan Dam has usurped Khnum, the god of the floods.

At over four kilometers long and 111 meters high,

the dam is a match for the great pyramid

taking up 17 times more space.

Since it was built in 1970,

this giant structure has transformed Egypt.

Today, Egyptian farmers have three harvests a year

instead of just one, but there is a price to pay.

Chemical fertilizers have replaced

the silt from the floodwaters.

(instrumental music)

Nowadays, the Aswan Dam is a tourist attraction.

It is a source of pride for Egyptians,

and for those who built it.

(instrumental music)

Roshdi was just 22

when he was recruited to work on this vast building site.

I was here 55 years ago.

So you can imagine the feelings I have now.

Let you imagine the shape of the environment at that time.

You see this place, actually, at that time,

it wasn't clean and marvelous like this.

It was hills and valleys of sand and rocks and all of that.

This was our offices.

(instrumental music)

We found ourselves on 1960,

the beginning of the high dam

and the beginning of what we call it,

changing the mood of the Egypt itself, actually

from small country to a country

which has the goodwill to start building

something like the high dam.

That's why I like to talk about high dam,

it's not because an engineering sense,

but I'm talking about the

psychological meaning about it.

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In the 1960s, Nasser ruled Egypt,

a firm defender of Arab nationalism,

he wanted to proclaim the independence of his country

to the whole world.

The Aswan Dam became his great achievement.

(instrumental music)

The United States refused to fund it.

So Nasser appealed to the Soviet Union and was successful.

Work started in 1960,

36,000 workers toiled day and night

in temperatures sometimes exceeding 55 degrees.

There were numerous accidents.

The official number of victims was over 500.

We had lots of sacrifices.

We had lots of people dying on this project actually.

But the conclusion,

in the end of it, actually that we are standing there now

seeing that this project is living among all of us.

(oriental music)

Abdelkerim worked on the dam and survived.

He was born and bred in Aswan.

At the age of 91,

the dam remains the biggest adventure of his life.

Long live Egypt.

Long live Egypt.

Long live Egypt.

Now I can talk to you about the dam.

When construction started,

I was working on a dangerous site.

Everything collapsed on top of the workers

and lots of people were killed.

Work was halted.

And the biggest machines were banned from the site.

We had to continue by hand using shovels.

It took all our strength to lift the big stones with ropes.

(instrumental music)

Yes, people died, but it was for a good course,

the Aswan Dam.

(instrumental music)

This is the letter that Gamal Abdel Nasser sent me

once the dam was finished.

It's a thank you letter.

I'm proud of my contribution.

I'm glad I helped build the Aswan Dam.

I did it for Egypt.

(instrumental music)

Upstream from Aswan,

the construction of the dam has had a drastic consequence,

the creation of Lake Nasser,

a vast reservoir of water covering an area

of over 500 kilometers

encompassing the entire region of Nubia.

After thousands of years in existence,

the monuments of Nubia are at risk from flooding.

The most prestigious of all these archeological treasures

are the Abu Simbel temples.

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Richard Lebeali is a French Egyptologist.

He found his calling at the age of 14,

when he visited the Tutankhamun exhibition

in Paris in 1967.

Since then he has traveled to Egypt over a hundred times.

For Richard, Abu Simbel is still

one of the most magical places in the world.

In front of you, you have a monumental temple

belonging to Ramesses II.

It has a 20 meter high colossus.

This was the first time a Pharaoh

had dared to represent himself as a god.

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This temple is a miracle.

It almost disappeared under Lake Nasser.

42 nations came to the rescue with $36 billion

just a week or two before disaster struck.

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The operation to save the Abu Simbel temples

was launched on 1st of April, 1964.

It was a race against the clock.

For eight years, 900 people worked on it day in, day out.

First, they had to build a dyke

to protect the site from rising floodwater.

Then work is divided Abu Simbel up into 1035 blocks,

each weighing 20 to 30 tons.

The four city giants and the six other monumental statues

were dug out by hand.

The most delicate phase could now begin.

It involved transporting this giant jigsaw puzzle

64 meters upstream.

Jacks, cranes, and extremely powerful winches

were used to raise these huge blocks

to the top of the cliff.

Finally, artificial hills were built

to recreate the original setting

for the two Abu Simbel temples.

This is an extraordinary site in terms of technique.

Digging up a temple is highly risky and a real challenge.

In those days, the world had no concept

of universal heritage.

It was saving the monuments of Nubia,

including the Abu Simbel temples,

which gave rise to UNESCO's famous list

of World Heritage buildings.

The first building on that list,

was Abu Simbel.

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This is the second temple Abu Simbel,

the one Ramesses II dedicated to his famous wife, Nefertiti.

In addition to being a devoted lover,

Ramesses II was a great politician.

He knew that the prosperity of Egypt

depended on his domination of Nubia.

And at the bottom of this inscription that you see here,

he is presented as the master of Nubia,

today and always.

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Nubia was an important region for the pharaohs.

It is rich in gold mines,

and ivory and African slaves passed through here.

The trouble was that the Nubians were inclined to rebel

as soon as they got the chance.

The pharaohs from Northern Egypt

tried everything to pacify this rebellious region.

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This is a column of prisoners.

Their hands tied behind their back and on their knees.

These people are not easily identifiable

by their negro traits.

The significance of this freeze

which was on of the outside of the temple

was to show Egyptians that the Nubians had been conquered

and that this defeat would affect them throughout history

until the end of time.

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This world heritage site was saved.

But the Nubian population was forgotten.

There was no sign of the paradise

Nasser had promised them after the construction of the dam,

and 100,000 of them were displaced.

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In the village of Abu Simbel,

high in the artificial hills sheltering the temples,

a few traces of this ancient culture can still be found.

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Fikry does all he can to preserve it.

He once used to sing about this lost paradise.

Now he is trying to preserve remnants of it.

I am part of the last generation

to have experienced Nubia back in the day.

I used to play in front of the temples of Abu Simbel

when the facade stretched down towards the river.

We would travel by a felucca

from our village on the opposite bank.

We would come here to the temples to play.

I have happy memories of it.

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The whole of Nubia was here.

That was the village of Abu Simbel,

one of the 44 villages in Nubia

which stretched from the boarder of Sudan down to Aswan.

The 44 villages in Nubia were dotted

all along the Nile valley.

a landscape you see today between Luxor and Aswan

remains more or less unchanged.

It just had more Palm trees.

There used to be millions of Palm trees here.

They have all disappeared 60 meters beneath the lake.

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No one can I imagine what it was like.

Today, it is deserted.

There is a lake here now.

But life was different then.

There were feluccas on the Nile.

That life has completely disappeared

under the lake.

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UNESCO hasn't done much to save it

nor has the Egyptian government

or anybody else for that matter.

If we don't try to safeguard this part of our culture,

it will disappear forever.

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Nubian culture is at risk of disappearing,

and yet it has lasted for centuries.

In particular, the architecture

with its domes and vaults designed especially to withstand

the heat of the desert.

The music is a reflection of the people too.

Some of the instruments are straight down

to the Pharaonic era.

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Modern day Egypt has made the Pharaoh's wish come true

to bring the Nile under control, whatever the price.

Most Egyptians have had to adapt.

Despite coming from the Delta,

these fishermen at Lake Nasser,

look as if they've been here forever.

However, a new element has appeared

in the heart of the African continent,

Ethiopia has also built a dam over the Nile.

The Ethiopians can now control the flow of the river too.

So the Egyptians are not the only masters of the Nile.

This represents a new challenge for the country

where since the time of the Pharaohs,

the Nile has been synonymous with Egypt

and Egypt has been synonymous

with the Nile

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