Visiting Wadi El Seboua during one of our cruises on Lake Nasser makes for an unforgettable experience since the area is home to a number of relocated ancient sites.

Temple of Seboua at Wadi El Seboua – Lake Nasser, Egypt.

Design Your Custom Tour

Going for a cruise on Lake Nasser in Egypt is unquestionably a fantastic experience, and one which you’re not likely to forget. The main reason for this is of course because these cruises typically allow visitors to see and explore several sites that contain more than just a single attraction.

During the 1960s several significantly important structures had to be relocated in order to save them from the flooding of Lake Nasser which resulted from the construction of the Aswan High Dam. During this process, the authorities found it easier to group multiple sites together in a number of carefully chosen locations

Many groups worked together with the Egyptian government in order to painstakingly relocate some of the country’s national treasures, and Wadi El Seboua is a really outstanding example of this effort.

Visiting Wadi El Seboua

Wadi El Seboua is now home to two “New Kingdom” temples, as well as the Temple of Dakka and the Temple of Maharraqua. Most visitors to the site want to explore all of these buildings and therefore they tend to dedicate a full day to the site.

Many visitors begin with the famous “Valley of the Lions,” which is a sphinx-lined avenue that leads to the older of the two “New Kingdom” structures. This is the temple which was built by Amenhotep III and dedicated to a Nubian version of the god, Horus. It is a rock cut temple, with a brick pylon that remains intact. The courtyard and main hall still exist to this day, and there are also some admirable paintings.

The Temple Of El Seboua

The Temple of Wadi El Seboua itself unfortunately came under attack during the Amarna period, and many of the paintings and carvings were damaged when Akhenatan had the image of Amun inserted over any of those depicting Horus. Ramessess II later restored the temple as much as was possible, but the quality of the craftsmen of his era was not to the same level as those of the earlier generation.

The Temple Of Amun

The second, and slightly younger temple at Sebua, is Temple of Amun, and it too was built by Ramessess II to mark his jubilee celebrations, roughly 30 years into his long reign over Egypt. It honored the current administrator or Viceroy of Nubia, also called Kush, and it features a few monuments in his honor. It is the larger of the two New Kingdom sites and is in very good condition, although it also suffered from less skilled craftsmanship.

The Temple Of Dakka

The enormous Temple of Dakka is also just a short distance from the site, and it’s a wonderful example of Greco-Roman architecture. The temple was dedicated to Thoth, and over the years it was slowly but surely expanded, and eventually it ended up being used as a Roman fortress.

The Temple of Maharraqua

The Temple of Maharraqua is much smaller than the other temples you will see at the site, and it was also never completed. Nonetheless, it has one very unique feature which has intrigued historian for ages, and this is its winding staircase, bearing in mind that no other Nubian temples in all of Egypt have this sort of feature. Also, because it was never completed, there is no inscription, which means that nobody really knows who built it.

Explore the Best of Egypt

If you are cruising Lake Nasser, be sure that your tour includes at least half of a day spent at Wadi El Seboua as it is a wonderful and unforgettable site. Better stil – why not explore even more Egypt tourist attractions with one of our luxury Lake Nasser cruises that include a visit to Wadi El Seboua.

We also offer custom Egyptian tours which can be tailored to suit your personal preferences and budget. Our customer service representatives are on standby 24 hours per day, 365 day a year, which means that expert assistance is never far away either.