vysoká přehrada: projekt a jeho důsledky // the high dam: the project and its consequences

The project of the High Dam at Aswan is a continuation of an ancient tradition. The Egyptian pharaohs since the earliest periods of the Egyptian history made an effort to control the use of water of the Nile inundation for the benefit of the country’s agriculture. Careful records of the height of the Nile flood, building of barrages and dams, and digging of irrigation canals all belonged to the ancient Egyptians’means of helping prosperity and avoiding crop failure even during the years of too high or too low inundation. Similar to the ancient projects, the modern buildings, such as the Aswan dam, also provided only a partial solution to the problem. The High Dam at Aswan on the other hand brought a lasting possibility of collecting water in a large artificial lake, and of its use in agriculture regardless of the actual yearly volume of the river. In addition, the production of electricity enabled the necessary industrial development of Egypt. Despite the benefits of the project of the High Dam for Egypt, however, a number of problems arose, including the urgent need of saving the monuments of Lower Nubia. The Egyptian call to the UNESCO was answered in 1959, and the international salvage campaign started soon after, in which – besides many other countries – the Czechoslovak Institute of Egyptology participated.