Statement by the President on the Preservation of the Egyptian Abu Simbel Temples.
OVER 3 years ago the United States joined 50 other nations in contributing funds to preserve the great Abu Simbel Temples, in Egypt's Nubia. The construction of the Aswan High Dam had threatened the temples with inundation.
In appreciation for our contribution, the United Arab Republic offered us one of the Nubian monuments--the Temple of Dendur. I have just announced that this temple will be located in the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
The task of saving Abu Simbel is unfinished-$3.5 million more is needed to reassemble the remaining two temples and restore them to a new site. At the suggestion of the State Department, the American Committee to Preserve Abu Simbel was formed, and it has raised approximately $1.3 million in donations and pledges. A balance of $2.2 million remains.
These monuments represent a culmination of nearly 2,000 years of artistic achievement in ancient Egypt. They are a priceless cultural heritage. They must not be lost to mankind.
Americans can participate in saving the temples by contributing to the Committee to Preserve Abu Simbel.
Note: On the same day the White House Press Office announced that the President had informed the United Arab Republic of his decision, based on the recommendation of a five-man committee of private citizens, to award the Temple of Dendur to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. The release added that the temple, dating back 2,000 years to the reign of the Roman Emperor Augustus, measured 50 by 30 feet at its base, was 20 feet high, and weighed 633 tons. At the request of the United Arab Republic, it would be housed in a $2.5 million wing adjoining the museum's Egyptian collection in an environment appropriate to its archeological character.
The United States Government had contributed $16 million in Egyptian pounds to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization to aid in its efforts to provide funds for removal of the Abu Simbel Temples to higher ground.
Lyndon B. Johnson, Statement by the President on the Preservation of the Egyptian Abu Simbel Temples. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/237487