Hatshepsut’s Temple at Deir el Bahari is considered a wonderful experiment in ancient Egyptian art and architecture; as such it is a uniquely remarkable structure built in white limestone that’s a sight to behold. More important, this work provides some insights into the men and a woman, avante garde in their thinking and actions at a time when females dared not rule! However, given the opportunity, Queen Hatshepsut ruled well and was involved in many remarkable adventures and building projects, chief of which was her mortuary temple at Deir el Bahari, on the west bank at Thebes that also highlights a diplomatic voyage to Punt on the East African coast; one of many remarkable experiences recorded for posterity. This wonderful structure, unique in many ways, was a classic in its days of active use and though time and man have taken some toll, it still radiates with magical, mystical, artistic splendor, millennia later. A three story structure when one was the norm, use of alternating columns and pillars in colonnade form, hundreds of statues of the Queen in various attitudes, art in remarkable raised and sunk reliefs, the earliest bequeathed anthropological study in history, shrines to several gods, employing a creative and innovative concept to justify divine right to rule, choice of a remarkable location for its construction, employment of line and space over distance, while employing ramps, courts and colonnades all magnificently blended and juxtaposed against the mountain as a backdrop, Exquisitely utilizing a nearby Middle Kingdom prototype as transition linking Old with New Kingdom building creativity, all have made this temple not simply the envy of the ancient world; it is a remarkable tourist attraction that leaves visitors breathless and in wonder at this classic piece of monumental architecture which salutes its architect Senmut, an avante garde revolutionary genuinely motivated by love of a beautiful lady. This work, Hatshepsut’s Temple at Deir el Bahari, consists of two poems to God Amon-Ra and the temple of Deir el Bahari itself, an Overview, Introduction, essays on Hatshepsut and Senmut, reports on discovery of Mummies in the Deir el Bahari Cache of 1881, and conclusions by the author. In addition, it contains published reports written more than a hundred years ago when the Swiss Egyptologist Edouard Naville excavated the temple in the 1890s. Even more, some two dozen illustrations and many photographs, some old and new and others taken from the temple’s bird’s eye view on the mountain top (no longer possible), descending the mountain, as well as the ascent into and highlighting the structure’s ramps, colonnades, shrines, walls, courts and its wonderful artistic depictions towards the middle and upper terrace at the mountain’s base where resides its Holy of Holies Sanctuary.The photographs are designed to let the monuments teach and as such, they highlight the art and architectural wonder of the temple, magnificence of the architect’s creation of art and architecture that blends beauty with ancient mystical spirituality; and as such, this work is considered a significant Guidebook for students, specialists and lay people as well as for tourists. [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected]
