British tourist's quest to fulfill mother's dream at Abu Simbel

The incident took place on Sunday. The man wanted to enter the temple grounds along with a large group of other British tourists. While passing through the security gates, it turned out that the Englishman had a box with him. Inside was a tightly sealed glass jar containing what looked like ashes with small pieces of matter resembling bones.

The temple's security detained the man. During questioning, he admitted that the ashes were cremated human remains—specifically, the remains of his mother, who had died a month ago.

The British tourist also revealed that he had travelled to Egypt to fulfil his mother's last wish. The lid of the jar was labelled in English with the deceased woman's name, date of birth, and death.

When asked why he was bringing cremated remains in a jar to the Abu Simbel temple grounds, he replied that King Ramses II appeared to his mother on her deathbed and instructed the dying woman to have her remains buried in the temple courtyard. This way, the British woman would receive the pharaoh's blessing and ensure eternal life.

According to Ahmed Masoud, the chief antiquities inspector at Abu Simbel, the Briton was not arrested, and the jar with his mother's ashes was returned to him. Moreover, the man was allowed onto the temple grounds. Still, he formally agreed in writing that he would not attempt to bury his mother's ashes in this or any other archaeological area, as doing so would violate Egyptian law.

The archaeological site of Abu Simbel consists of a complex of two temples built between 1264 and 1244 B.C. during the reign of Pharaoh Ramses II. The temples of Ramses II and Nefertari were carved into the rock.

Abu Simbel is located on the Nile, about 300 kilometres south of Aswan.