New Kalabsha
New Kalabsha is a headland beside the High Dam where three rescued monuments were re-erected in the 1960s: the large Roman temple of Mandulis from Kalabsha, the small rock-cut temple of Beit el-Wali built for Ramesses II, and the unfinished Kiosk of Qertassi. It is a twenty-minute boat ride from the dam and almost nobody goes.
- The salvage campaign · quiet
- 1 hr 30
- Recommended
- Outdoor · rock chambers
- Yes
- Moderate
- Low
- From 8+
- not verified
- No
- Morning
- [DATE]
New Kalabsha: rescued monuments together
KALABSHA TEMPLE · QERTASSI KIOSK · BEIT EL-WALI
RELIEF — INTERPRETIVE REGISTERS
COLUMNS & CAPITALS
The largest temple gives the site its name. Its present setting is a result of the Nubian rescue campaign.
The small columned kiosk is a distinct monument, brought here from another location.
This temple was also relocated to the new site. The grouping is modern; the monuments are ancient.
Because it is the salvage campaign at arm’s length: three buildings from three different centuries, taken off the drowned riverbank and put down together on a rock, with nobody there. Beit el-Wali still has colour on its reliefs, which is rare this far south.
Kalabsha stood about fifty kilometres south of Aswan and would have been permanently submerged. It was dismantled and moved here between 1961 and 1963, one of the first big operations of the campaign and the rehearsal for Abu Simbel.
The temple is dedicated to Mandulis, a Nubian god the Romans adopted, and it is one of the clearest places to see what Roman Egypt did with Egyptian religion in a Nubian setting.
Beit el-Wali is much older and much smaller — a rock-cut chapel of Ramesses II whose forecourt reliefs show his campaigns, including scenes of Nubia. The painted colour that survives on them is the reason to make the trip.
A rocky headland in the reservoir with three separate buildings on it, reassembled rather than restored, and the High Dam wall visible across the water.
Pigment on the forecourt reliefs, protected by the rock. The best surviving colour you will see around Aswan.
On the Mandulis temple you can read where the blocks were rejoined. It is the campaign’s handwriting, and it is not hidden.
- 1 hr
- 1 hr 30
- 2 hrs
Morning, mostly for the water — the reservoir is calmer early and the boat crossing is more pleasant. There is no crowd to avoid at any hour.
| How | Roughly | What to know |
|---|---|---|
| Boat from the High Dam | ~20 min each way | Negotiated at the landing, and the boat waits. This is the whole logistical difficulty of the visit and the reason it stays empty. |
Physical access to a place and accessibility on a website are different problems, and this is the first. We only publish what somebody has checked; the rest says “not verified”, because guessing here can strand somebody.
| Step-free route | No | |
| Surface | Stone | |
| Boat transfer | Yes | Boarding at the dam landing and again onto a rocky shore. Neither is level. |
| Stairs | Yes | Steps up from the landing to the temple terrace. |
| Shade | Low | |
| Seating | Not verified | |
| Accessible toilet | Not verified | |
| Walking distance | Not verified |
If you have a fourth day and you liked Philae, this is what to do with it. Three rescued buildings, no crowd, and the dam in the background making the point about why they are here. The boat is the only friction and it is worth it.
Written by — · Fact checked by —
There is nothing else at the landing and no second boat. Agree how long you have before you get off.
A gate from Kalabsha was given to Germany and is in Berlin; the temple itself is here. Four other Nubian temples went to Madrid, New York, Leiden and Turin.
Every factual page carries its trail. No social post is ever the sole evidence for a law, a permit, a price or an archaeological fact.
The inscription, the scope of the salvage campaign, and the relocation of Philae, Abu Simbel and the Lake Nasser temples.
Campaign dates, the number of monuments moved, and the four temples transferred to Spain, the United States, the Netherlands and Italy.