In 27 BC, an earthquake shook the head of the great Rameses to the ground, leaving it in pieces on the floor, 20 metres below. Carved out of the rock, the façade has four statues of Rameses II, each 20 metres high, flanking the entrance to his great temple.

When the Aswan High Dam was created, the area including the temples at Abu Simbel was scheduled to be flooded, so an international team worked to move the temples 65 metres higher, onto what would become dry land. And they moved the fallen head too, placing it in exactly the same place, as if it had fallen there over 2000 years ago.