High Dam
The High Dam at Aswan, completed in 1970, is one of the great engineering projects of the twentieth century. It created Lake Nasser and changed life along the Nile.
The end of the annual flood
For thousands of years, the annual flood of the Nile shaped farming in Egypt, and very low or very high years could bring hunger or destruction. The High Dam ended that cycle, holding the water back in Lake Nasser and releasing it through the year. It also generates hydroelectric power for the country.
Lake Nasser and its price
The reservoir, Lake Nasser, stretches far south of Aswan and into Sudan. Its rising waters covered much of Nubia, forcing Nubian communities to leave their homes and threatening monuments such as Abu Simbel and Philae, which were moved in an international rescue effort. The river below the dam also carries far less of the silt that once enriched the fields.
One wall of rock across the river ended a rhythm of flood that had ruled Egypt for thousands of years.
Built with Soviet support
Construction began in 1960 under President Gamal Abdel Nasser, with financial and engineering support from the Soviet Union. A monument in the shape of a lotus flower, near the dam, commemorates the Egyptian-Soviet cooperation.
- Completed
- 1970
- Created
- Lake Nasser
- Height
- About 111 m
- Length
- About 3.8 km
Visit on these journeys
Offered as an optional excursion on day 4, together with Philae Temple.
