The Abu Simbel temples are two enormous rock temples located at Abu Simbel, a Nubian village in Southern Egypt not far from Sudan. They are part of a complex of UNESCO World Heritage Sites known as the “Nubian Monuments.” The temples were carved from the mountainside by Pharoh Ramses II in the 13th Century BC, as a monument to himself and his queen Nefertari and to commemorate his victory at the Battle of Kadesh.
The temples used to be on the western bank of Lake Nasser but were painstakingly moved to an artificial hill in 1968. They had to be relocated or they would have been flooded when the dam of Aswan was built. It is still possible to visit the Abu Simbel temples, but not in their original location.
Royal Opera House
It seems like the Royal Opera House of Valletta in Malta was built under an unlucky star. It opened in 1866 but was demolished by fire just six years later. The building was rebuilt and renovated but was almost completely destroyed during a German air raid in 1942.
The opera house, which is remembered as one of the most beautiful and iconic structures in Valletta, has gone through several attempts at restoration over the years, all of which were unsuccessful. It was only recently reopened in 2013, but with a different design and the name Pjazza Teatru Rja.
Boeung Kak Lake
The Boeung Kak Lake in Cambodia was considered one of the biggest and most important wetlands in the world. Its location and natural beauty turned the area into a thriving tourist attraction. Sadly, the Cambodian government-backed policies which damaged the lake and roughly 90% no longer exists.
Officials filled in those areas with sand in order to turn it into a property development, and in the past few years it has been described as little more than a “puddle”.
Wall Arch
Wall Arch used to be a natural sandstone arch that stood in the Arches National park in southeastern Utah. The arch was located along the park’s famous and popular Devils Garden Trail and was ranked 12th in size of the park’s 2,000 arches. The opening beneath the arch measured 71 feet wide by 33.5 feet tall. Sometime in the night between August 4th and August 5th in 2008, the arch caved in.
Although we will never get the chance to see this arch, it is important to note that all natural arches are temporary and eventually collapse due to erosion and gravity, so just enjoy any that you are lucky enough to see.
Yosemite’s Jeffery Pine
Ansel Adams’ famous glass plates of the Jeffrey pine on top of Yosemite’s Sentinel Dome first brought the tree into the public eye in the 1860s. The famous image and its beautiful location made it one of the most photographed trees in the world.
The tree, which managed to grow despite its lack of soil, lived atop the dome for hundreds of years but died in 1977 during a severe drought. It remained standing for many more years, but ultimately collapsed in a fierce storm in 2003.