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Secondary sourcePhotograph1850

Westernmost Colossus of the Temple of Re, Abu Simbel

Maxime Du Camp · 1850

An 1850 salted-paper photograph by Maxime Du Camp showing a colossal statue of Ramesses II at Abu Simbel.

Shows a colossal statue of Ramesses II at Abu Simbel, built to display his power and legacy.

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Sepia photograph from above of a colossal stone statue head with a striped headdress and carved face, partly buried in sand. A small figure sits on top of the head. Hieroglyphs run along the upper left wall.
Maxime Du Camp, Westernmost Colossus of the Temple of Re, Abu Simbel, 1850. The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

About this source

What it is

This is an early photograph taken in 1850 by the French photographer Maxime Du Camp. It shows one of the colossal statues of Ramesses II carved at the temple of Abu Simbel. The photograph is a salted-paper print, one of the earliest photographic methods, and is now held by The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Why it matters

The photograph documents one of the great monuments Ramesses II built to show his power, long before modern tourism and conservation. It also shows how European travelers like Du Camp were fascinated by ancient Egypt and worked to record its monuments using new photographic technology.

Look closer

  • Why do you think the statue is partly buried in sand?
  • What might the small figure sitting on the head tell you about the statue's size?
  • Why would a photographer in 1850 want to capture this image?

This photograph is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Ramses II (Ramses the Great) on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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Two clay cuneiform tablets on a clear acrylic stand against a red background. The larger tablet is broken into several fragments, covered in dense wedge-shaped writing. A smaller tablet fragment sits at lower right, also inscribed.Document

Primary source

Egyptian–Hittite Peace Treaty

c. 1258 BCE

Sepia photograph of the facade of the Abu Simbel temple in Egypt, with four seated colossal statues of Ramesses II carved into the rock. A small standing man at lower left shows scale. A doorway lies between the middle statues, and hieroglyphs are carved across the upper wall.Photograph

Secondary source

Abu Simbel Temple Colossi

Pascal Sébah · 1875

Facade of the Great Temple at Abu Simbel carved into a sandstone cliff under a clear blue sky. Four seated colossal statues of a pharaoh flank the central doorway, with a sand-covered walkway leading up to the entrance.Artifact

Primary source

Abu Simbel

Ramesses II · c. 1273 BCE

Sepia photograph of the Abu Simbel temple facade in Egypt. A colossal seated stone statue of a pharaoh with a striped headdress dominates the right. Beside it stands a statue of a falcon-headed god wearing a sun disk. Relief carvings and hieroglyphs cover the wall, and a small seated man at the bottom gives scale. Caption reads Abou Simbel, Gd Temple, Le dieu Soleil Ra et Rhamses II, P. Sébah.Photograph

Secondary source

Facade Detail of Abu Simbel Showing Ramesses II and Ra

Pascal Sébah · 1875

Sepia photograph of the ruined Ramesseum temple at Luxor, Egypt. Four fallen-headed colossal seated statues stand before a sandstone gateway with carved hieroglyphs on its lintel. A broken statue lies in the foreground, and a small figure sits near the base of the statues. Desert and a column are visible on the left.Photograph

Secondary source

Ramesseum Colossi in Ruins

Pascal Sébah · c. 1875

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