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Philae is one of the
highlights of any visit to Aswan. To reach it, one can take an organised
excursion booked through a travel agent, cruise boat, or hotel.
Alternatively, take
a taxi to the boat landing at Shellal on the east side
of the old Aswan Dam. From here you can buy tickets to visit the island
itself, and for the small boats that transport tourists to and from the
island.
The
ticket office can be found at the end of a tourist bazaar at the gate to
the boat landing. During the boat trip you will get to see your first glimpse of the temple.
Dedicated to Goddess Isis, the temple was
originally constructed on the island of Philae, but with the construction
of the old Aswan Dam, the temple site became partially submerged, so
tourists viewed the temple ruins from rowboats. With the construction of
the new
High Dam, the site was due to become
completely submerged so the whole temple was dismantled and rebuilt
on
the nearby higher island of Agilika, which
was modified to resemble Philae.
To make all this possible, a coffer dam was constructed around the temples
and the water was pumped out the temples were carefully dismantled with
every block assigned a number and its position noted, they then resembled
the temples.thus saving them from the waters of the Nile, and enabling the
site to opened to the public again.
Metal pylons on the old
island of Philae can still be seen rising from the water to the south of Agilika. |
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