The most famous giant statues carved in the rocks

Abu Simbel

Abu Simbel

In Egypt, you can find another creation, carved in the rock is Abu Simbel. On the territory of the Nubian desert, lake Nasser, in the XIII century BC were carved two ancient Egyptian temple. As a result of construction in these places of the Aswan dam in the 60-ies of XX century, the temples were carefully sawn and transported to another location. But some of them remained. 

These are the four statues with the height of 20 meters that adorn the main entrance to the temple and sculptures representing the Pharaoh Rameses II and the gods RA-Harakhte, Amun and Ptah. It is a place like no other in the world, has not only the ancient age, but also reflects the technological advances that were known to the ancient Egyptians. 

 

We are talking about optical illusions. Twice a year, September 21 and March 21, in 5 hours 58 min. rays of the rising sun is crossing the invisible line that is 65 meters from the entrance to the temple, and penetrate through the room, which is inside the rock, covering RA-Harakhte, Amun and Ramses II. For a few moments, the beam stops on the face of Ramses II, and a century later, all the inhabitants of the planet, located at the foot of the temple, see the Pharaoh seemed to be "smiling" at this very moment. But the temple is designed so that the light never lights Ptah, because he is the Lord of the underworld, remains eternally in darkness.

The City Of Petra

The City Of Petra

In Jordan in the mountains above the valley of arava at the height of 660 meters, is located a city of the Ancient Nabataean city of Petra. It is considered that him from 2 000 to 4 000 years old, of whom it is narrated even in the pages of the Old Testament. In this area often occur a rainfall floods and the Nabataeans possessed the knowledge and skills to control the flow of water, so they used dams, aqueducts and cisterns that allowed them not only to overcome long periods of drought, but also to trade successfully with water. 

So amazing mountain town was a kind of oasis in arid area. In the mountains it was found in 1812 by the Swiss Explorer Johann Ludwig Burckhardt. To date, studied only 15% of the total area of the city, but have already found more than 800 different buildings. 

There are temples, palaces, tombs, a theatre and many other buildings that have survived in good condition, and that the most surprising – everything in this city is carved in stone.

The great Sphinx at Giza

The great Sphinx at Giza

The great Sphinx of Giza, on the West Bank of the Nile (Africa) is familiar to everyone since childhood. It was completed more than 2 500 years BC. 

The height of the mythological creatures is 20 meters and the width of the sculpture is 73.5 meters. It is known that the limestone statue lying on the sand lion, has a face similar to the face of the Pharaoh Khafre, who reigned in Egypt from 2575 in 2465 BC. 

His burial pyramid and is close to the Sphinx.