The International Campaign to Save the Monuments of Nubia was the effort to relocate 22 monuments in Lower Nubia, in Southern Egypt and northern Sudan, between 1960 and 1980. This was done in order to make way for the building of the Aswan Dam, at the Nile's first cataract (shallow rapids), a project launched following the 1952 Egyptian revolution. This project was undertaken under UNESCO leadership and a coalition of fifty countries. This process led to the creation of the World Heritage Convention in 1972, and thus the system of UNESCO World Heritage Sites.The World Heritage Convention: "The event that aroused particular international concern was the decision to build the Aswan High Dam in Egypt, which would have flooded the valley containing the Abu Simbel temples, a treasure of ancient Egyptian civilization. In 1959, after an appeal from the governments of Egypt and Sudan, UNESCO launched an international safeguarding campaign. Archaeological research in the areas to be flooded was accelerated. Above all, the Abu Simbel and Philae temples were dismantled, moved to dry ground and reassembled. The campaign cost about US$80 million, half of which was donated by some 50 countries, showing the importance of solidarity and nations' shared responsibility in conserving outstanding cultural sites. Its success led to other safeguarding campaigns, such as saving Venice and its Lagoon (Italy) and the Archaeological Ruins at Moenjodaro (Pakistan), and restoring the Borobodur Temple Compounds (Indonesia). Consequently, UNESCO initiated, with the help of the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS), the preparation of a draft convention on the protection of cultural heritage."
The construction of the Aswan Dam was a key objective of the new regime the Free Officers movement of 1952 in order to better control flooding, provide increased water storage for irrigation and generate hydroelectricity, all of which were seen as pivotal for the industrialisation of Egypt.
The building of the dam was to result in the creation of Lake Nasser, which would submerge the banks of the Nile along its entire 479 km (298 mi) length south of the dam – flooding the entire area of historical Lower Nubia. This region was home to 22 critical historical sites, including but not limited to the Abu Simbel temples; as well as the temples at Philae, Kalabsha and Amada.
It was described in the UNESCO Courier as "the greatest archaeological rescue operation of all time".
In April 1979, the monuments were inscribed on the World Heritage List as the Nubian Monuments from Abu Simbel to Philae, as one of the second group of properties added to the list (the first 12 had been added in 1978).
History
In 1954, UNESCO founded the CEDAE (Centre d'Étude et de Documentation sur l'Ancienne Égypte, in English the Documentation and Study Centre for the History of the Art and Civilization of Ancient Egypt) in Cairo under the direction of Christiane Desroches Noblecourt, who was a French Egyptologist at the Louvre. The Study Centre worked on documenting over 400 private tombs, primarily through photography and photogrammetry.
Desroches-Noblecourt begins lobbying to save the monuments Aware that planning was underway for the Aswan high dam and of the potential threat that it posed to Nubian monuments, CEDAE, with the permission of UNESCO decided to concentrate its efforts on Nubia. Christiane Desroches Noblecourt became determined to do her best to save the monuments and in particular Abu Simbel that were threatened by any lake created by the new dam.Olson, Empress of the Nile, p. 145
To enlist support she arranged for Luther Evans, the director general of UNESCO, while on a visit to Egypt to visit Abu Simbel. "Despite at the end of his visit proclaiming "These works are imperishable and must be protected. We must take action to do so", UNESCO took no action.Olson, Empress of the Nile, pp. 146-147
At an international conference of museum directors and antiquities experts in Paris in May 1955 organised by the International Council of Museums Desroches-Noblecourt argued that every effort needed to be made to save the monuments of Nubia.Olson, Empress of the Nile, pp. 148-149, 151 Though sympathetic to her appeal, attendees had doubts that it was even technologically possible to do anything with some of the view that there were higher priorities. A short time later UNESCO's chief lawyer, the Egyptian Hanna Sabba suggested she try and enlist the support of René Maheu who was currently the undersecretary of UNESCO. Maheu promised his support. By September 1955, field expeditions under Dr. Ahmed Badawi were being undertaken in Nubia with UNESCO permission.
In the aftermath of the Suez Crisis Desroches-Noblecourt along with all other British and French citizens were confined to their homes or hotels before being expelled from the country in early November 1956. Then at the end of December in that year UNESCO was informed by the Egyptian government that while they would no longer welcome British and French experts, they would make an exception for her.Olson, Empress of the Nile, pp. 169, 171, 172 With the approval of the French government she returned to her position at CEDAE. To make up for the restriction on hiring British and French experts, she used her international contacts to recruit specialists from other countries as CEDAE raced to document the monuments of Nubia. When she became aware of the Egyptian governments plan to close the French Institute of Oriental Archaeology (IFAO) she was able to, with the support of the Canadian ambassador and a lawyer hired by the French government, broker an arrangement that allowed the IFAO to continue. Despite numerous appeals to Egyptian and UNESCO to save the Nubian monuments she was making no progress.
Okasha comes on board Among those who had rejected Desroches-Noblecourt's appeals was Tharwat Okasha, head of the newly created Egyptian Ministry of Culture which had been established in 1958 and had responsibility for all of the country's antiquities. However, in late 1958 he had a sudden epiphany following a visit by Raymond A. Hare, United States ambassador to Egypt, and James Rorimer, the director of the Metropolitan Museum in New York. During their meeting, Rorimer made the comment that since Egypt was not prepared to protect its own monuments, it would be better to sell them off to countries that could.Olson, Empress of the Nile, pp. 174-177 Several years later he described being, "haunted by the threat of appalling loss. I deemed it the duty of the Ministry of Culture to plan the salvation of the threatened monuments. Preserving our treasures for posterity became the imperative, and I determined then that the impossible would be made possible." At a discussion the next day with Desroches-Noblecourt, where he recounted the insult he had felt at Rorimer's remarks, she proposed that Egypt join forces with UNESCO in a campaign to save them. By now Maheu was deputy director general at UNESCO and in a position to help. In January 1959 Maheu met with Okasha in Cairo. Immediately upon his return to Paris, Maheu had Vittorino Veronese, the director general of UNESCO call Okasha on the telephone to express his full support for a campaign to save the monuments.
At the time the Egyptian government was dedicated to improving the country and had placed little importance in preserving its heritage, though it had taken pride in pharaonic Egypt's accomplishments. It took several days but by the end of January 1959(Ramses Re Couronne Saroite Okacha Dar El Maaref 1974pp 13,14) Okasha was able to convince Nasser to agree to asking for international assistance. Nasser also agreed to Okasha's proposal that Egypt would cover a third of the cost, with the project overseen by UNESCO and the Ministry of Culture. In return for their financial assistance, Egypt would offer inducements to financial contributors. This took the form of gifts of a number of antiquities, including four Nubian temples, while foreign archaeologists would be granted not only access to threatened Nubian sites, but countries would be allowed to keep half of what was uncovered.Olson, Empress of the Nile, pp. 178-180 This was a dramatic reversal of the country's 30 year long reluctance to allowing foreign archaeologists to receive a share of any finds. The day after receiving Nasser's approval, Desroches-Noblecourt drafted a letter on Okasha's request, which Nasser signed on 4 April 1959 and she hand-delivered in April to UNESCO, which formally requested UNESCO's assistance. In June 1959 UNESCO's executive authorised Veronese to produce a plan on how to undertake the saving of the monuments.
To provide information for the plan, teams of experts from CEDAE were dispatched across Nubia to conduct ground inspections of the threatened monuments. Meanwhile, Desroches-Noblecourt engaged engineers from France's National Geographical Institute to conduct an aerial survey of Nubia, using aircraft from the Egyptian air force. In October 1959, an international multi-disciplinary committee of experts from UNESCO, led by John Brew, the head of Harvard's Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, spent 10 days being escorted by Desroches-Noblecourt around Nubia.Olson, Empress of the Nile, pp. 181-183 The committee's report, which was countersigned by the Egyptian government, recommended that efforts be made to save 24 monuments stating that their loss would be "an irreparable loss for the world." The report was accepted in November 1959 by UNESCO's executive council and approved by its general conference in January 1960.
On 9 January 1960 formal construction began on the Aswan High Dam.
UNESCO issues a campaign to save the monuments In early 1960, Veronese officially submitted a proposal to the executive board of UNESCO to attempt to save the monuments, pointing out various concerns regarding the need to preserve Nubian cultural heritage sites in Egypt and Sudan, while promoting the welfare of Egypt in relation to the proposed Aswan Dam. In the proposal he stated: "It is not easy to choose between a heritage of the past and the present well-being of a people, living in need in the shadow of one of history's most splendid legacies, it is not easy to choose between temples and crops."A Common trust: the preservation of the ancient monuments of Nubia, 1960, UNESCO CUA.60/D.22/A, p. 22 The executive board accepted Veronese's proposal and on 8 March 1960 Veronese formally announced UNESCO's campaign to save the Nubian monuments. To build support of the campaign Okasha lobbied foreign ambassadors and heads of state, while Maheu, with the assistance of Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan, who was head of UNESCO's international action committee, lobbied the government officials of UN member nations for financial assistance.Olson, Empress of the Nile, pp. 188, 189 Ratter than provide money to the campaign West Germany opted to directly fund and organize the relocation of the Temple of Kalabsha. The United Kingdom refused any assistance as it was still angry over the humiliation it had received during the Suez Crisis.Olson, Empress of the Nile, p. 246 It later reversed this decision. To further publicise the campaign Okasha also arranged for collections of Egyptian antiquities to tour Europe, Japan and the United States, which required him to overcome considerable resistance from some officials within the Egyptian government.
Jacqueline Kennedy gives her support