Thursdays, Oct. 5-19, 10 a.m. - noon

For more than 3,000 years, barring brief periods when blocked by sand drifts, exactly twice a year the sun has sent a shaft of light across the Nile and through a narrow portal flanked by towering statues deep into a rock-hewn cave to illuminate the figures of two Egyptian Gods and the Pharaoh Rameses II. The iconic monument of Abu Simbel would have disappeared forever beneath Lake Nasser but for the vision and determination of Egyptologist Christiane Desrosches-Nobelcourt. This class will "illuminate" her role in the project that has been called "the greatest archeological cultural rescue in history."