Tourists visit the Great Temple of Abu Simbel during the Sun Festival in Aswan, Egypt, Feb. 22, 2026. During the Sun Festival, which falls on Feb. 22 and Oct. 22 every year, rays of the morning sun ...
Twice a year at dawn, a shaft of sunlight cuts through Abu Simbel’s Great Temple to light three statues—and in doing so turns a tourist spectacle into evidence of ancient astronomical engineering ...