TEMPLE Deir EL Bahari (HATCHEPSOUT)

TEMPLE Deir EL Bahari (HATCHEPSOUT) THE LUXOR WEST SHORE.

 

 Located on the west bank of the Nile, about 7 km from the Ferry.
Deir El Bahari is the site where temples are the "queen" Hatshepsut, Thutmose III's temple, and the temple of Mentuhotep. One open to visitors is the funerary temple of the great royal wife Hatshepsut self-proclaimed Pharaoh.
  The "queen" Hatshepsut, more inclined to protect the arts than conduct military campaigns ordered a monument for his father Thutmose 1 and itself.

She put her choices on an inaccessible valley.
The brilliant intuition of his minister and architect (Senenmut) was to have been able to take full advantage of the dramatic circle of rocks which rises at the bottom of the valley.
The temple is leaning against a cliff and built on three levels, with a pillared hall and a sanctuary carved into the rock.
The design of the monument was new, revolutionary.
We went to the shrine by a series of large terraces connected by ramps.


 A lined avenue of sphinxes and obelisks, gave access to the first terrace which was closed at the bottom by a portico and whence a ramp leading to the second terrace, also closed by a gate.
On one of the walls, beautiful reliefs recount the birth and childhood of the "queen", as well as the military expedition that the sovereign led to the mysterious land of Punt.
This was to be at the center of Africa, if we stick to the sculptures of giraffes, monkeys, leopard skins and ivory objects.
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