Tuesday 04/November/2025 – 06:51 AM
Abdel Hakim Abdel Nasser, the son of the late leader Gamal Abdel Nasser, revealed the details of a historical incident documented in the books of Dr. Tharwat Okasha, the former Minister of Culture, saying that the year 1958 witnessed an official American offer to buy all the temples and monuments of Nubia that were threatened by drowning following the construction of the High Dam.
Abdel Nasser’s son: The campaign to save Nubia’s antiquities was a national epic
He explained during television statements that the offer was made by the American ambassador in Cairo to Dr. Tharwat Okasha, in the presence of the director of the Metropolitan Museum in New York, in exchange for large sums of money, but President Abdel Nasser rejected it categorically, saying: “They refused to contribute to the construction of the High Dam and are they coming to plunder our wealth?”
Abdel Hakim Abdel Nasser added that Dr. Tharwat Okasha then presented to the president a plan to save the monuments of Nubia through an international campaign under the auspices of UNESCO, noting that Abdel Nasser immediately agreed and directed the state to provide the necessary financial and political support, so that the campaign turned into a global epic that lasted 10 years, during which Egypt and its partners succeeded in saving the temples of Philae, Abu Simbel, Kalabsha, and others.
He pointed out that the cost of the project at that time amounted to 80 million dollars, which is equivalent to about 9 billion dollars in today’s prices, explaining that Egypt bore a third of the cost, and donor countries another third, while UNESCO covered the rest.
He also explained that granting some small temples, such as the Temple of Dendur to America, the Temple of Dabo to Spain, and the Temple of Taffa to the Netherlands, came within an official documented framework, as a symbolic return for the participation of those countries in financing the campaign, stressing that these decisions were made under the supervision of an Egyptian committee of senior archaeologists and with the approval of the Egyptian state.
Abdel Hakim Abdel Nasser concluded by saying: “The campaign was a true civilizational miracle. Many generations did not see the magnitude of the effort that was made at the time, but the whole world bore witness to the genius of the Egyptians who saved their history from drowning.”
