Twice a Year, a Golden Sunbeam Illuminates a 3,000-Year-Old Pharaonic Temple
Hundreds of tourists from around the world and locals gathered at dawn Thursday at a temple in southern Egypt, with some sleeping outside it overnight to witness a solar phenomenon that has taken place here for millennia. Twice a year, on Oct. 22 and Feb. 22 — dates believed to mark the ascension of Ramesses II to the throne and his birthday — the sun sends a beam of light into the Great Temple of Ramses II’s dark inner chamber to illuminate the statues of the pharaoh and two gods beside him.
