Relocation of the Temples of Philae, Egypt

The rescue work on the ancient monuments was made necessary by the construction of the Aswan High Dam and the subsequent flooding of Philae Island where they were originally built. They consisted of the dismantling, sectioning, transfer and relocation of the monumental complex to the nearby and higher Agilkia Island, which was remodelled to restore the original planimetric configuration. To achieve this goal, it was necessary, with a topographical work never before carried out, to catalogue and number all the stones, monoliths and columns in order to allow their exact repositioning; furthermore, in order to allow the intervention area to dry out, the area had to be isolated from the waters of the existing basin, thus creating a double palisade of metal sheet piles with interposed sand.