The parts not cut from rock are a peribolus and a pylon made of Nile silt bricks. Most of it is carved from sandstone, including the façade with four colossal statues of Rameses II seated, and other statues, bas-reliefs, and friezes. It is dedicated to the cult of Amen, Ra, Ptah and the deified Rameses II. The great temple is a hemispeos originally built on the hill of Meha. It was not until four years later, on August 1, 1817, that the Italian explorer Giovanni Battista Belzoni managed to remove the sand and open the entrance to the great temple. About a hundred meters to the east, he saw the half-sanded façade of the great temple, which revealed only the top of the four statues bearing the effigy of Ramses II. He discovered it by chance while moving away from the small temple he had come to visit. The large temple dedicated to Ramses II was discovered on 22 March 1813 by the Swiss historian Johann Ludwig Burckhardt. The small temple dedicated to Nefertari was the first to be discovered. It is the royal son of Kush III of Nubia who is in charge of the works: Youny then his successor Hekanakht. He thus wished to return to the prosperity that had reigned under his predecessor, the temples should please the gods, and ensure the food security of his subjects thanks to the good cycle of the Nile floods. Rameses II launched the building site at the beginning of his reign, he wanted to continue the work of the pharaoh who served as his model, Amenhotep III, who had built monumental sanctuaries in Upper Nubia.
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