Kalabsha is an ancient Egyptian temple that was originally located at Bab al-Kalabsha (Gate of Kalabsha), approximately 50 km south of Aswan.
In the 1960s the temple was relocated under the International Campaign to Save the Monuments of Nubia, and inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1979, along with other outstanding examples of Nubian architecture including Abu Simbel and Amada.
The temple was situated on the west bank of the Nile River, in Nubia, and was originally built around 30 BC during the early Roman era. While the temple was constructed in Augustus's reign, it was never finished. The temple was a tribute to Mandulis, a Lower Nubian sun god. It was constructed over an earlier sanctuary of Amenhotep II.
The temple is 76 m long and 22 m wide in dimension. While the structure dates to the Roman period, it features many fine reliefs of the temple.
Several historical records were inscribed on the temple walls of Kalabsha such as a long inscription carved by the Roman Governor Aurelius Besarion in AD 250, forbidding pigs in the temple as well as an inscription of 'the Nubian king Silko, carved during the 5th century and recording his victory over the Blemmyes and a picture of him dressed as a Roman soldier on horseback.' Silko was the Christian king of the Nubian kingdom of Nobatia.
With help from Germany, the temple of Kalabsha was relocated after the Aswan High Dam was built, to protect it from the rising waters of Lake Nasser. The temple was moved to a site, located just south of the Aswan High Dam. The process of moving the temple took more than two years. The temple of Kalabsha was the largest free-standing temple of Egyptian Nubia (after Abu Simbel, which was rock-cut, not free-standing) to be moved and erected at a new site.
In 1971, Egypt gave one of the temple's gates to the Federal Republic of Germany out of gratitude for Germany’s participation in the rescue of the Nubian temples. Since 1977 the gate has been located in the annex of Berlin's Egyptian Museum in Berlin-Charlottenburg. The gate will be moved to become the monumental entrance to the fourth wing of the Pergamon Museum in Berlin, which is currently, as of 2023, being constructed.
References:House of the Blackheads (Melngalvju nams) is a building situated in the old town of Riga. The original building was erected during the first third of the 14th century for the Brotherhood of Blackheads, a guild for unmarried German merchants in Riga. Major works were done in the years 1580 and 1886, adding most of the ornaments.
The structure was bombed to a ruin by the Germans June 28, 1941 and the remains demolished by the Soviets in 1948. The current reconstruction was erected from 1995 to 1999. Today the House of Blackheads serves as a museum and sometimes concert hall.