In 1954, Gamal Abdel Nasser’s government announced plans to build a great dam at Aswan, a few miles upstream from the old dam. This new infrastructure was deemed necessary to increase the country’s agricultural output and meet the demand of the growing Egyptian population. The dam would also provide the electric power required for the country’s industrialization program.

Agricultura egipcia
Egyptian agriculture


Works started in 1960 and were completed within 10 years. The dam created a vast reservoir that became known as Lake Nasser. It was some 310 miles long and reached into Sudan. Nubia disappeared from the maps when the water reached its highest level in 1970.
The Great Aswan Dam brought huge economic benefits to Egypt (and to a lesser extent to Sudan), but it also had terrible consequences for Nubia: disappearance of all populated areas, forceful migration of the population, loss of its ways of life and the end of the Nubian culture.

Presa de Asuán
Aswan Dam


The destruction of the many historic monuments located between the first and second cataracts was another important consequence of the Great Dam. These valuable archaeological sites, many of which had never been explored before, had to be inspected and documented as quickly as possible. The task was clear, but implementing the solution required a great deal of collaboration.