Tourists sleep outside 3,000-year-old temple in Egypt to catch a glimpse of pharaoh phenomenon

In: Science

International tourists and local residents gathered at daybreak on Thursday at an ancient temple in southern Egypt, with some sleeping outdoors overnight to observe a solar spectacle that has taken place here across millennia.

Occurring twice a year on Oct. 22 and Feb. 22—dates believed to mark Ramesses II’s coronation and his birthday—the sun sends a beam of light into the dark inner chamber of the Great Temple of Ramses II, illuminating statues of the pharaoh and two deities beside him.

The illumination, caused by the temple’s alignment with the sun, lasts roughly 20 minutes.

“Today is a very special day, as you can see. It’s a celebration and a historic holiday,” Hisham Khela, a local tour guide for Italian tourists, told The Associated Press.

Egyptology enthusiasts and other visitors waited in a single-file line holding phone cameras and selfie sticks, most showing tired eyes from the early wake-up call. Although large crowds gathered, they appeared tiny next to the colossal statues lining the temple, which overlooks the Nile.

Marking the event, performers in colorful attire stood before the temple smiling and dancing in unison to meditative chimes, tabla percussion, and the distinct sound of mizmars, an ancient Egyptian trumpet.

A tourist films the sun as it sends a beam of light into the Great Temple of Ramses II's dark inner chamber in Abu Simbel, 870 kilometers (540 miles) south of Cairo, Egypt, Thursday, Oct. 22, 2026, a rare 3,200-year-old astronomical ceremony that happens twice a year
A tourist films the sun as it sends a beam of light into the Great Temple of Ramses II’s dark inner chamber in Abu Simbel, 870 kilometers (540 miles) south of Cairo, Egypt, Thursday, Oct. 22, 2026, a rare 3,200-year-old astronomical ceremony that happens twice a year (AP Photo/Mohammed Salah)

Inside the complex, visitors huddled tightly in near-total darkness before statues of Ramesses II and the gods Amun-Ra and Ra-Horakhty, illuminated by a sunbeam traveling roughly 60 meters (200 feet) into the interior, according to the National Research Institute of Astronomy and Geophysics.

For first-time attendees, ancient history created modern memories.

Janice Souudi, who traveled from Atlanta, Georgia, said this was her first trip to Egypt, adding it would not be her last.

“I came here today for the huge temple statues and how well preserved they are. But I was most impressed with the colors of the carvings and hieroglyphics and imagery,” she said. “Beautiful, stunning, worth it!”

In the 1960s, archaeologists executed a massive relocation effort to dismantle and move the temple away from rising waters caused by the Aswan High Dam.

Engineers ensured the structure preserved its alignment with the sun, so that light still finds its way inside more than 3,000 years after construction.