La Nubie enfin retrouvee...

Je me suis souvent iterrogee sur le moyen d'atteindre tous ces temples "demenages", objets de la sollicitude internationale: mais seuls de nos jours Philae et Abou Simbel, aux deux limites de la Nubie, demeurent d'acces relativement aise.
En faisant construire votre bateau au Caire et en le reconstruisant piece par piece en aval de la premiere cataracte, vous allez repeter - probablement sans le savoir - les hauts faits de vos ancetres...
Au vrai, le veritable chemin pour aborder ces monuments concus pour etre vus du Nil et approches du Nil, est d'emprunter le fleuve. Dans ces conditions, les temples apparaissent entoures de leur contexte poetique et livrent leur message en provoquant ainsi la plus belle emotion artistique voulue...
Ces temples sauves attendent un tourisme respectuex, recherchant la calme harmonie et sachant mesurer l'opportunite exceptionelle offerte par ce voyage unique sur le Nil nubien devenu le lac Nasser...
Ce trajet sur le lac Nasser semble, maintenant, grace a l'initiative de Moustafa et Tarek El Gendy, prendre l'aspect d'une realite qui rendra aux yeux des fervents de l' Egypte (combien nombreaux) ce paradis perdu de la Nubie enfin retrouvee.

Mme. Ch. Desroches-Noblecourt
Inspecteur Generale des musees de France


Return to Nubia...

I have often wondered what might be the best way of reaching these temples, now that worldwide concern has moved them away from their original sites. Nowadays, only Philae and Abu Simbel, at the upper and lower boundaries of Nubia, are fairly easy to reach. In getting your boat together in Cairo, and rebuilding it piece by piece as you travel downstream from the first cataract, you'll be reliving, perhaps unaware, the heroic achievements of your ancestors.
In fact the best way of approaching the monuments, which were designed to be both seen from the Nile and approached from the Nile, is from the river itself. This way, the poetic vision of the temples and their setting speaks to every one of the senses as the most gloriously fulfilling aesthetic experience.
Saved today from certain destruction, these temples command respect from those in search of harmony and serenity - those who have taken this unique opportinity to sail with us down the Nubian Nile into Lake Nasser.
Today, thanks to the initiative of Moustafa and Tarek El Gendy, the Lake Nasser trip can at last bring this once lost Nubian paradise back before the eyes of the many devout admirers of Egypt.

Mrs. Ch. Desroches-Noblecourt
Honorary Inspector General of the Museums of France

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