The efforts begun in 1972 by the Egyptian government with the aid of UNESCO to save the temples on the island of Philae are described. Trapped between the first Aswan dam and the recently constructed High Dam, the temples, which had once been annually exposed between July and September, became submerged year-round. Attempts to raise the structures above the level of the flooding Nile waters involved dismantling and reassembling the temples on an island 300 meters from the original site. A discussion of the island's history and of the culture of Philae's past inhabitants is included. -- AATA