The temple of queen Hatshepsut (Al Deir al Bahari) is a group of Pharaonic temples and tombs located on the west bank of the Nile opposite the city of Luxor in Egypt.
The temple was built by Queen Hatshepsut to perform rituals that would benefit her in the afterlife. As for the name Al Deir al Bahari, it is a modern Arabic name given to this temple in the seventh century AD after the Copts used this temple as their monastery. The temple consists of three rising terraces divided by an ascending road
The mortuary temple of Queen Hatshepsut is a unique temple built next to the cemetery on the west bank of the Nile, opposite the ancient city of Thebes (Luxor today) and located to the north of it Several graves carved into the rocks were found in that area, including a recently discovered hidden tomb in which 40 mummies were found. There are three temples in al Deir al Bahari.
The temple of Queen Hatshepsut was constructed during the Eighteenth Dynasty, about 3500 BC on the west bank of the Nile
Al Deir al Bahari is located in a mountainous area, and behind it is the Valley of the Kings, where the most famous pharaohs of ancient Egypt are located. The whole area is visited by tourists from all over the world, and they visit it after or before their visit to the Temple of Amun (Karnak) in Luxor.
Egyptian tourism also allows visitors the possibility of ascending in balloons over that spot and enjoying viewing what is there from the highest eras that preceded us by about 3,500 thousand years.
The first to exploit this region was the Egyptian Pharaoh Mentuhotep II of the Eleventh Dynasty, who ordered the construction of a temple near his tomb. The road leading to his tomb was surrounded on both sides by colorful stone statues of him, and graves were allocated around the temple for his wives, army commanders, and close nobles.
The Temple of Mentuhotep is distinguished by its unique design, and at the same time it is the first temple built on the west bank of Thebes during the Egyptian Middle Kingdom.
During the beginning of Christianity, the Copts established a monastery of worship on the Temple of queen Hatshepsut. The monastery continued to exist until the eleventh century. In the nineteenth century, the archaeologists Auguste Meret and Edward Nephi found the remains of the monastery. They worked to remove the ruins of the monastery to see the ruins of the temple underneath. Nafi recorded his works extensively in 7 books under the title: “The Temple of al Deir al Bahari” during the years 1894 – 1898.
In addition to what Tutmosis III built after his succession to Hatshepsut, the Temple of “Akhmenu” in Karnak, and the Temple of “Henket Ankh” (north of the Ramesseum), Tutmosis III created a temple above the kiosk of Hathor in al Deir al Bahari during the last year of his rule.
This temple is located between the Temple of Queen Hatshepsut and the Temple of Mentuhotep II in their background, and it is much smaller than them. Currently, there are few remains of it. This temple was built on a high plateau in relation to the other two temples, as there was no place between them to build his temple. According to the design of this temple of Tutmosis III, its axis faces exactly in the direction of the Karnak Temple located on the eastern bank of the Nile. The two temples of the Eighteenth Dynasty (Egyptian New Kingdom) were called the “House of a Million Years.”
The big surprise in al Deir al Bahari was the discovery of tomb DB320 (also known as TT320), which was discovered by Ahmed Abdel Rasoul in 1871.
A family kept the secret of their discovery of the cemetery, which is from the Twenty-first Dynasty, as they found in it, alongside the jewelry of the dead and their offerings, about 40 mummies, including the mummies of kings from the 17th-21st Dynasties. They were selling what they found little by little until the knowledge of that tomb reached the then head of Egyptian antiquities, Gaston Maspero. Maspero prevented his assistant, Emil Bruges, from entering what was called al Deir al Bahari Tombs Hideout” until July 6, 1881.
The temple was built during 15th year of Queen Hatshepsut’s reign, between the seventh year of her reign until the 22nd year of her reign. Senenmut, the head of the court during her reign, is the one who designed it and supervised its construction. There are some sites for Senmut on the temple that indicate this, and his tomb is located under the first floor of the temple and extends about 97 meters into the mountain and ends in the sarcophagus chamber at a depth of 43 meters. The tomb of Senenmut was found and the tomb was named TT353
Habusneb, Nahasi, the head of the treasury, and Zihuti, the overseer of the jewelry house, also participated in the construction of the temple. This is indicated by their names mentioned on the walls of the temple. The temple suffered some corruption during the end of the rule of Thutmose III, who succeeded Hatshepsut in power, as her names were scraped off the temple and some of her statues were smashed.
In the nineteenth century, Auguste Meret carried out the first rubble removal operations in the temple area. Then his assistant, Edward Navy, during the years 1893 – 1897, removed the rubble from the Coptic monastery, and then he removed the rubble from the Temple of Hatshepsut during the years 1903 – 1906. Howard Carter also worked in that area, and he transferred drawings to paper and took photographs. With other specialists.
The following excavations took place during the years 1911-1931 and were carried out by Herbert Fenlock for the American Metropolitan Museum of Art, as well as by Emile Barrez, on behalf of the Egyptian Antiquities Authority. Finlock recorded his work in the book “Excavations at Al Deir al Bahari: 1911-1931” in 1942.
Some parts of the temple that were destroyed during the period when the name Hatshepsut was scraped off the temple during the end of the rule of Tuthmosis III were found by a mission from the Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York) in a nearby quarry and returned to the temple.
In 1961, Polish archaeologists Zygmunt Wojciecki and Janusz Karkowski carried out excavations, reconstructed some parts, and carried out restorations on a mission from the Polish Center for Mediterranean Archeology, affiliated with the University of Warsaw, in cooperation with the Egyptian Antiquities Authority.
The temple is divided into several temples and chapels
I – Temple of Hatshepsut (right),
II – Temple of Mentuhotep II (left)
III – Temple of Tutmosis III (top).
The Mortuary Temple of Hatshepsut is located to the right of the Temple of Mentuhotep II. The procession road connects the Valley Temple on the Nile to the funerary temple of Hatshepsut. The length of the procession road is about 1 km. The Valley Temple, which overlooks the Nile, faces the Temple of Amun Ra at Karnak on the eastern side of the Nile. In the past, the procession route was the route of rams, and the statues of rams were made of sandstone brought by the ancient Egyptians from the Silsila quarry.
The design of the Temple of Hatshepsut is completely different from the design of ancient Egyptian temples, The temple was originally approached via a now-destroyed Sphinx Avenue, leading from the valley to its entrance, where two sacred Persea trees once stood, symbolizing their importance in Egyptian mythology, as seen in the story of Anubis and Ptah.
At the western end of the open court, two colonnade courts rise above ground level, supported by two rows of columns. The front row features square columns, and the courts are elevated by a stone block shaped like a Mastaba.
The northern court is in an extremely bad condition at its extreme northern angle there are remains of hunting scenes
The left part of the colonnade court (towards the south) has inscriptions on its walls showing the processes of producing two obelisks in Aswan and their transportation and erect them in Karnak Temple.
A ramp connects the first floor to the second open court. The second gallery is above the first gallery and also looks towards the east. The left part of this corridor consists of a hall called the “Hall of Punt”, on the walls of which there are drawings and inscriptions about Hatshepsut’s trade missions to the country of Punt or Somalia nowadays, which she conducted in the ninth year of her reign (in 1459 BC). As for the right part, there are inscriptions expressing the birth of Hatshepsut as the daughter of Amun. The Hall of Punt ends with the Shrine of Hator, and the Hall of the Divine Birth ends with the Shrine of Anubis.
On the facade of the second gallery there are 26 statues of Hatshepsut in the form of Osiris, only some of which are still in their bronze. The southern part of the lobby wall had hieroglyphic stelae from Hatshepsut, but they were covered during the reign of Tutmosis III with other drawings and inscriptions.
From the center of this hall leads to the sacred chamber of Amun-Ra. The central hall on the second balcony is called the “Celebration Hall,” and the inscriptions on its walls show pictures of the procession from the Valley Temple to the mortuary temple. On its walls there are several niches in which there were statues of Hatshepsut.
The foyer of Punt ends with a small portico that leads to the mihrab of Hathor. The tops of the central columns end with heads representing Hator’s head. This hallway leads to an entrance to a hall with columns entering the mihrab. On the right wall there are inscriptions of Hathor representing her in the form of a cow. There are also inscriptions of a sacred procession.
The foyer of Punt ends with a small portico that leads to the chapel of Hathor. The tops of the central columns end with heads representing Hathor’s head. This hallway leads to an entrance to a hall of columns entering the mihrab. On the right wall there are inscriptions of Hathor representing her in the form of a cow. There are also inscriptions of a sacred procession.
In Anubis sanctuary at the end of the second hallway to the right is a hallway contains 12 columns. The wall to the right has inscriptions showing Hatshepsut, but they are scraped off, and on the inner part of the right wall there are drawings showing Osiris, Ra-Horakhty, Nakht, and Hatshepsut. On the left wall there are inscriptions showing offerings to Anubis.
On both sides of the portico there are two corners, the right of which has a drawing showing Tutmosis III (see picture) making offerings to Sucre. This hallway leads to an empty rectangular room.
The Sun Sanctuary consists of an open hall with a staircase leading to a high offering table. We enter the lobby through a door on the third floor. The walls of the Sun Sanctuary are decorated with the night journey of the sun, where Ra (the sun) rides a boat from sunset to sunrise. The rest of the walls of the room are not decorated.
The sanctuary of Hatshepsut and the main sanctuary of Amun are the largest sanctuaries of the temple. On the wall opposite the entrance, there is a false door made of granite. As for the ceiling, it is shaped like a dome. Most of the wall drawings have been erased. From the door leading to the sanctuary of Hatshepsut, the door to the sanctuary of Thutmose I (her father) enters, and the decorations of the sanctuary are not clear.
The chamber is covered by a dome with four recesses. Above each of the two doors there is a window through which sunlight entered the sanctuary and fell on the face of the statue of Amun Ra.
The northern shrine of Amun Ra consists of a small, longitudinal-shaped room, and on its back wall is depicted Amun Ra embracing Thutmose II (Thutmose II was king after the death of his father Thutmose I, but he died young. That is why Hatshepsut ascended to power because Thutmose III – her brother – was still young and his patroness even big). On the side walls there are sacrificial scenes.
Likewise, the Shrine of Amun Ra, located in the south, consists of a square room, the walls of which are decorated with scenes of offerings
Enjoy visiting the Hatshepsut temple when you book a private Hurghada to Luxor day trip.
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