Four seated colossi of Ramesses II, each about 20 metres high, guard the entrance of the Great Temple. A smaller temple beside it is dedicated to Hathor and to Queen Nefertari.
The temple axis was aligned so that twice a year the rising sun reaches the sanctuary and lights the statues within. Between 1964 and 1968 an international UNESCO campaign cut both temples into blocks and rebuilt them on higher ground above the rising waters of the Aswan High Dam.