Benisa

A few days ago we promised to tell you the story of how he got to Madrid. Temple of Debod. At the end of the 19th century, andBetween 1898 and 1902, a dam was built in Aswan, the so-called low dam. As a result, the Temple was submerged by the waters of the Nile River for nine months a year. This situation deteriorated the stone, and the reliefs lost their color. The monument could only be visited when it emerged from the waters.

But 60 years later, the threat reached greater dimensions. More than 22 Nubian archaeological sites would be permanently flooded by the construction of the pinch (made with three fingers) of Aswan (1960-1970), an initiative of Nasser financed by the Soviet Union de Nikita Khrushchev, in the middle of the Cold War and where African countries received help from one bloc or another depending on their political orientation. On March 8, 1960, UNESCO called on nations around the world to save these Nubian temples. 50 countries contributed 26 million dollars, and a large number of individuals contributed another seven million. Spain contributed more than half a million dollars.

In gratitude, Egypt donated the temple to Spain in 1968. Some of the remains were taken to the banks of the reservoir, outside the flood zone, but four, including our Temple of Debod, were transferred to countries that participated in the Unesco plan. Thus, the Temple of Taffa is currently in the National Museum of Antiquities in Leiden (Netherlands), that of Ellesiya in the Egyptian Museum of Turin and that of Dendur at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Debod's was the first to be rescued. A detailed description of the monument was made, numerous photographs were taken and its inscriptions were copied.

The Egyptian Antiquities Service, with the help of a Polish project, dismantled the sanctuary and moved the ashlars to Elephantine Island, opposite Aswan. For 10 years they stayed there. In 1970, the temple was moved along the Nile River from Elephantine to Alexandria. From there they crossed the Mediterranean Sea in the Benisa, a merchant ship, until reaching Valencia.

A total of 90 trucks transported the 1.356 blocks into which the sanctuary had been divided to the Madrid Principe Pio Mountain. In the space that was left free after the elimination of the Mountain Barracks. The reconstruction was not easy, plans were missing and part of the stone was in poor condition. The monument was inaugurated two years later, in 1972, by the mayor Carlos Arias Navarro.

The historian Jorge Magano remembered that the original Temple had three portals and not two, as we can see now. Many pieces had to be reconstructed due to their deterioration or disappearance, for this Salamanca stone was used.

For years the monument has been threatened, the pollution and especially the humidity of Madrid, causing it to deteriorate. Other more suitable places, with drier and warmer climates such as Almería and Elche, requested the installation that finally remained in Madrid.

In 2007, the UNESCO center in the Community of Madrid asked for its protection, and proposed covering the temple with a glass dome. The temple was declared a Site of Cultural Interest by the Community of Madrid in April 2008. While deciding how to protect it, we recommend continuing to enjoy it.

A abrazo.