Small Temple at Abu Simbel. 19th-century view of the smaller of the two 13th-century BC temples at Abu Simbel in Egypt. This temple is dedicated to the Ancient Egyptian goddess Hathor and Queen of Egypt Nefertari, wife to Rameses the Great. The temples were carved out of sandstone, with six large statues (10 metres high). The four seen here are Rameses either side of the entrance, with Nefertari at left and right. The Abu Simbel temples were moved in the 1960s to save them from the rising waters of Lake Nasser behind the Aswan High Dam. This 1851 view, by the photographer Felix Teynard, was published in Paris in 1858.