However,
the temples' foundations and other architectural
supporting structures were strengthened
instead. Although the buildings were physically
secure, the island's attractive vegetation
and the colors of the temples' reliefs
were washed away. Also, the bricks of
the Philae temples soon became encrusted
with silt and other debris carried by
the Nile. By 1960, UNESCO had decided
to move many of the endangered sites along
to Nile to safer ground. Philae's temple
complex was moved, piece by piece, to
Agilkai, 550 meters away, where it was
reassembled and remains today. That project
lasted from 1977 to 1980. Aswan is a city
on the first cataract of the Nile in Egypt.
Two dams straddle the river at this point:
the newer Aswan High Dam, and the older
Aswan Dam or Aswan Low Dam. Normally,
the River Nile floods in the summer every
year as waters from East Africa flow down
the river. These floods brought nutrients
and minerals that made the soil around
the Nile fertile and ideal for farming.
As
the population along the river grew, there
came a need to control the flood waters
to protect farmland and cotton fields.
In a high-water year, the whole crop may
be entirely wiped out, while in a low-water
year there was widespread drought and
famine. The British began construction
of the first dam in 1899 and it was completed
in 1902. The project was designed by Sir
William Willcocks and involved several
eminent engineers including Sir Benjamin
Baker and Sir John Aird, whose firm, John
Aird & Company, was the main contractor.
A gravity dam, it was 1,900 m long and
54 m high. The initial design was soon
found to be inadequate and the height
of the dam was raised in two phases, 1907–1912
and 1929–1933. When the dam almost
overflowed in 1946 it was decided that
rather than raise the dam a third time,
a second dam would be built 6 km up-river.
Proper planning began in 1952, just after
the Nasser revolution, and at first the
US and Britain were to help finance construction
with a loan of USD $270 million.
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