Everything about Mortuary Temple Of Hatshepsut totally explained
The
Mortuary Temple of Queen Hatshepsut is situated beneath the cliffs at
Deir el Bahari on the west bank of the
Nile near the
Valley of the Kings in
Egypt. Designed by the architect
Senemut, the
mortuary temple is dedicated to the sun god
Amon-Ra and resides beside the mortuary temple of
Mentuhotep, which served both as an inspiration, and rather unfortunately, a quarry. It is considered one of the "
incomparable monuments of ancient Egypt."
Architecture
While Hatshepsut used Menuhotep’s temple as a model, the two structures are significantly different. Hatshepsut employed a lengthy colonnaded terrace that deviated from the centralized massing of Menuhotep’s model – an anomaly that may be caused by the decentralized location of her burial chamber. There are three layered terraces reaching 97 feet tall. Each 'storey' is articulated by a double colonnade of square piers, with the exception of the northwest corner of the central terrace, which employs Proto Doric columns to house the chapel. These terraces are connected by long ramps which were once surrounded by gardens. The layering of Hatshepsut’s temple corresponds with the classical Theban form, employing
Pylon,
courts,
hypostyle hall, sun court,
chapel and
sanctuary.
Sculpture and Relief
The relief sculpture within Hatshepsut’s temple recites the tale of the divine birth of a female pharaoh- the first of its kind. The text and pictorial cycle also tell of an expedition to the
Land of Punt, an exotic country on the Red Sea coast. While the statues and ornamentation have since been stolen or destroyed, the temple once was home to two statues of
Osiris, a sphinx avenue as well as many sculptures of the Queen in different attitudes – standing, sitting, or kneeling.
Historical Influence
Hatshepsut’s temple is considered the closest Egypt came to the
Classical Architecture. It marks a turning point in the architecture of Ancient Egypt, which forsook the megalithic geometry of the Old Kingdom for a temple which allowed for active worship, requiring the presence of participants to create the majesty. The linear axiality of Hatshepsut’s temple is mirrored in the later New Kingdom temples. The architecture of the original temple has been considerably altered as a result of misguided reconstruction in the early twentieth century AD.
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