50 lat od budowy tamy Aswan w Egipcie

A picture taken on January 4, 2021 shows a statue of a seated Ramses II at the entrance of Abu Simbel archaeological site in southern Egypt on the Nile's western bank, some 1120 kilometres south of the capital Cairo. - Half a century since Egypt's ground-breaking Aswan dam was inaugurated to fanfare, harnessing the Nile for hydropower and irrigation, the giant barrier is still criticised its human and environmental toll. The lake behind the dam flooded the homeland of Egypt's Nubian people, forcing tens of thousands of leave, Nubian associations say. It was not only people who had to move because of the project spearheaded in the early 1950s by charismatic pan-Arabist president Gamal Abdel Nasser; the waters threatened to drown the three-millenia old Pharaonic temples at Abu Simbel, kickstarting a massive UNESCO-led rescue mission over eight years. The ancient complex including around 20 gigantic monuments, built during the rule of Ramses II in the 19th dynasty and carved out of cliffs overlooking the Nile, was dismantled and hoisted to higher ground in one of the world's biggest archaeological rescue operations. The groundbreaking UNESCO-led project took eight years and involved hundreds of workers. (Photo by Khaled DESOUKI / AFP)