The Kalabsha Temple (also Mandulis Temple) is an ancient Egyptian temple which was
originally situated at Bab al-Kalabsha (Kalabsha Gate), about 50 km south of Aswan.
The temple was located in Nubia on the west bank of the Nile
River and was originally built in the early Roman period around 30 BC.
While the temple was built during the
reign of Augustus, it was never completed.
The temple was a homage to
the Lower Nubian sun god Mandulis (Merul).
It was constructed over an earlier sanctuary of Amenhotep II.The temple measures 76 m
long and 22 m tall.
Although the framework dates from the Roman era, many fine reliefs are featured, such as
“a fine carving of Horus emerging from reeds on the temple ‘s inner curtain wall.”
A staircase leads up to the roof of the temple from Kalabsha’s “sanctuary quarters,”
where one can see a magnificent view of the temple itself and the holy lake.
“On the temple walls of Kalabsha, several historical records were engraved as” a long inscription carved by the Roman Governor Aurelius Besarion in AD 250, forbidding pigs in the temple “as well
as an inscription of” the Nubian king Silko, carved during the 5th century and recording his victory over the Blemmyes and an image of him dressed as a Roman soldier on horseback.Silko was the Christian king of the Nubian kingdom of Nobatia.
The temple was used as a church when Christianity was brought to Egypt.
With Germany’s support, after the Aswan High Dam was completed, Kalabsha ‘s temple was moved to protect it from rising waters on Lake Nasser.
The temple had been relocated to a site, just south of the Aswan High Dam.
The temple moving method took more than two years.
The Kalabsha temple was Egyptian Nubia ‘s largest freestanding temple (after Abu Simbel) to be relocated and erected at a new site.Although the building was never completed, it “is regarded as one of the best examples of Egyptian architecture in Nubia.
