Abu Simbel salvage celebrated as success; challenges persist

Egyptologists and other experts gathered in Italy to celebrate a successful campaign to save ancient Egyptian temples from being submerged by a dam project 50 years ago and to warn of new threats.

The international campaign that saved the temples of Abu Simbel when Aswan High Dam was remembered in Turin as an unprecedented engineering achievement and a turning point in the preservation of cultural heritage sites.

But experts at the Monday event say that with major dam projects underway in Sudan and Ethiopia, the job of protecting Nubian culture is not finished.

The director of Turin's Egyptian Museum, Christian Greco, noted that salvaging Abu Simbel settlements and domestic artifacts didn't receive as much emphasis as the temples.

She says their loss to the dam provides lessons for the future.