Abu Simbel was unheard of in the Egyptological world until J. L. Burckhardt in 1813 stumbled on the upper part of a temple façade almost covered by sand. The entrance leading into the temple was discovered four years later by Giovanni Battista Belzoni and since then it has attracted many who have been awe-struck by the colossal façade of the temple.
Although the temple attracts tourists all year round its worth everything to visit this 3000 year old inspiring rock mountain on the 22nd of February and the 22nd of October, when the Sun illuminates the sanctuary statues.
The temple was actually built further down the Nile, in the same relative position, but due to the rising waters of Lake Nasser that grew behind the Aswan Dam, the temple had to be moved on the desert plateau 200 feet above and 600 feet west of their original location. In a massive archeological rescue plan by the UNESCO in the 1960s the complex of temples was moved to its site today from the original locations that are presently underwater.
Abu Simbel lies 280 km south of Aswan and only 40 km north of the Sudanese border. Archaeologists have concluded that the immense sizes of the statues in the Great Temple were intended to scare potential enemies approaching Egypt's southern region, as they traveled down the Nile from out of Africa.
The massive façade of the main temple is dominated by four seated colossal statues of Ramses II himself. Each statue 67 feet high is seated on a throne and wears the double crown of Upper and Lower Egypt and all are sculpted directly from the rock face. The thrones are decorated on their sides with Nile gods symbolically uniting Egypt. Between the legs and on each of their sides stand smaller statues of members of the royal family. The smaller statues of relatives were of his wife Queen Nefertari, his mother Tuya the great wife of Seti Ι, and of many of his children.
There are two main temples, that of Ramses II dedicated to sun gods Amun Ra and Ra-Harakhte and the smaller was built in honor of Nefertari, his wife and dedicated to the goddess Hathor. The temples are as impressive in the day as they are by night, since each night there are three Sound and Light Shows in seven different languages.
The Abu Simbel Sun Festival is one of the world's most unique events to date. This week the Solstice occurrence can be witnessed again by crowds that pack into the temple before sunrise. The two dates, February and October the 22nd commemorate King Ramses' ΙΙ ascension to the throne and his birthday respectively.
The Sun Festival starts at dawn as the visitors watch the shafts of light slowly creep into the temple lighting up this sanctuary. Curiously enough the sun illuminates the status of Amun-Ra, Ra-Harakhte and Ramses the god; whilst the statue of Ptah, the god of darkness remains in the shadows.
So on the 22nd of this month unlike any of us, Ramses will not be having candles lite up on his birthday, but the first rays of the Sun will light up his face before it lights up his architectural phenomena and the rest of Egypt!
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Egypt Tours
The new Cairo Opera House is part of Cairo's National Culture Center. The funds for the complex were a gift from the nation of Japan to Egypt. In October of 1988 it was inaugurated by President Hosni Mubarak and His Highness, Prince Tomohito of Mikasa, the younger brother of the Japanese Emperor in a remarkable ceremony. It was the first time for Japan to stage a Kabuki show, a traditional popular drama with singing and dancing, in Africa or the Arab World. In recognition of the Cairo Opera House, the London Royal Philharmonic Orchestra chose it as a venue for their first performance in the Middle East and Africa in January 2007. 
The story is told in the first person by Sinuhe himself, and written in the form of a poem, combining in a single narrative an extraordinary range of literary styles. The poem continually examines the reasons for Sinuhe's flight and his possible culpability for it, without reaching a conclusion.This biography yields information about political and social conditions of the time. The poem also explores the nature of what it is to be an Egyptian, without ultimately undermining the Egyptian assumption that life outside Egypt is meaningless, by placing an Egyptian character in a non-Egyptian (i.e. Asiatic) society.
His tomb has not been found, but the account of his adventures was a favorite tale in Ancient Egypt and was written many times on papyrus and read for hundreds of years after his death. Specifically, it has been recorded on 6 papyri and 26 ostraca (singular for ostracon and is a piece of pottery or stone, usually broken off from a vase or other earthenware vessel), making it one of the most popular literary works, and one of the oldest.
The tale starts with Sinuhe speaking from his tomb. He begins his story while on an expedition to Libya with the eldest son of the King Amen-em-hat Ι. He overhears a messenger speaking of the assassination of the Pharaoh. He decides to flee in a panic, either from fright or because of his complicity it is not clear. He intends to travel southwards but was blown north while crossing the Nile, and continues into the Desert of Sinai and onto Palestine and Lebanon. There he almost dies, and as he gives up all hope for life he hears the low of cattle. He is found and tended to by a Bedouin who recognizes him as an Egyptian of importance.
As she was different from the other house-girl servants, with pale skin, rosy cheeks, golden hair that blew in the wind and bright green eyes, they were very jealous of her, teasing and making fun of her. They gave her all the dirty chores of washing cloths and weeding the garden. Her master was old and spent most of his day sleeping under a fig tree, but one day he woke to see Rhodopis dancing with such beautiful grace, he presented her with a pair of red-rose gilded slippers, which caused even more jealousy from the other servant girls. 
He was so moved by what happened that he decreed that, all the land be searched for who ever fits the slipper, and the owner will be Pharaoh's wife. Ahmose’s search eventually leads him to Rhodopis’ home. Though Rhodopis hides when she sees the Pharaoh’s barge, he sees her and asks her to try the slipper. After demonstrating that it fits her, she pulls out its mate, and the Pharaoh declares that she will be his Queen and the Royal Lady of Egypt, and they live happily ever after of course!
It was told that Isis managed to trick the all powerful sun god Ra into telling her his secret name (the name that held all his divine power). By creating a magical serpent that bit Ra. She was called upon to cure him but to do so she had to know his secret name, which he finally divulged giving her power equal to his own and so she became divine and as powerful as Ra himself.
The end to this religion came in 535 A.D. when the Roman emperor Flavius Anicius Justinianus ordered the closure of the temple, forbad the art of reading and writing hieroglyphs and imprisoned its priests. This put an end to the religion that had spread beyond the lands of Egypt and spread all across the Mediterranean.
Isis was the sister-wife of Osiris and the mother of the god Horus. Osiris was a great and just king who was loved by his people and wife, but he was hated by his brother Seth (the god of the underworld). Seth was jealous of his brother so he devised a plan to get rid of him. He secretly obtained Osiris' measurements and had a magnificent casket of the rarest wood and decorated with ebony, ivory, silver and gold made to fit him exactly. He then held a great feast in honor of Osiris where he offered to give the casket to whoever fit it exactly. With the aid of 72 of his wicked friends they tricked Osiris into trying it for size, but as soon as he lay in it they nailed the lid shut and threw the casket into the Nile.
And when no one was looking she opened the chest and turned into a bird called the kite and flapped her mighty wings. The wind created by her wings gave Osiris the Breath of Life for one day, during which she conceived her son Horus from him. Seth managed to find the casket again and after opening it he rented the body into 14 pieces and scattered them along the shores of the Nile for the crocodiles to eat. Isis seeking the help of her sister Nephthys and Anubus the son of Nephthys, who was said to take the form of a jackal to find all the pieces of Osiris. All the pieces were recovered except for one. She stuck the pieces together and wrapped him in linen making him the first Egyptian mummy. Not able to return in a human form, Osiris was sent to rule the underworld, being the only person to live after death. 
Isis then returned to raise her son Horus, who often took the form of a hawk. Horus eventually avenges the death of his father and manages to defeat Seth. Horus was then given the privilege of taking his father's place and ruling Earth as Osiris had once done.