Beit El Wali Temple

About 50 km (31 miles) south of the Aswan Dam, not far from the temple of Kalabsha and now moved close to that temple’s new site, outside Aswan, stood another of Ramesses II’s Nubian monuments carved into the sandstone hillside. Originally fronted with a brick-built pylon, the rock-cut temple was dedicated to Amun and other gods and consists of an entrance hall decorated to celebrate Ramesses’ victories over various enemies; a board columned hall with two proto-Doric style columns; and the sanctuary, with statues of Isis, Horus, Khnum, Satis and Anukis – deities of the region of Aswan and Lower Nubia. Although the sanctuary’s statues were mutilated during the early Christian era, the brightly painted reliefs in the inner parts of the temple are well preserved.