Google Doodle Honors the Famous Abu Simbel Temple and Pharaoh Ramesses II

Google regularly runs doodles for specific countries or regions. National heroes or notable people are celebrated on the local Google homepage and, sometimes, events or places that are especially relevant to one part of the world.

The latest such example is the doodle run for the Abu Simbel temple, dedicated to Pharaoh Ramesses II and his wife Nefertari, which was only displayed in the Arabic world.

The temple is famous worldwide and is a very popular tourist attraction. Its most notable feature is that it was designed so that the sun would hit the face of the giant statue of the pharaoh only on October 22nd and February 22nd, the dates of the pharaoh's birth and coronation.

Along with the pharaoh, the faces of Amun and Ra-Horakhty, aspects of the gods of creation and of the sun whose identities were merged with Ra, are lit up.

The fourth statue be longs to Ptah, the god of craftsmen and architects but also of the underworld, is never lit up. This is depicted by the doodle as well.

Via: Google Doodle Honors the Famous Abu Simbel Temple and Pharaoh Ramesses II