Temple of Hatshepsut

History

The Temple of Hatshepsut is carved into the limestone cliffs towering above the desert in the valley of Deir el-Bahari. Seeing it from afar is a unique and impressive image that you will never forget.

The design of the temple is the work of the architect Sennenmut, who many historians place as the secret lover of this pharaoh who reigned Egypt for a long period and who won many important battles on different fronts. It is believed to have been built between the seventh and twenty-first years of his reign, with one of its parts dug into the rock and the other in the outer sector divided by three terraces.

The columns of the temple are very varied, but the most curious are those that support the room dedicated to Hathor, with a capital with the carved head of this goddess and whose ceiling has disappeared. Other notable columns are those located on the third terrace, most of them with the carved figure of Osiris.

On the second terrace is the chapel of Anubis, decorated with a large number of paintings with offerings to the gods and still maintain their original colors, which makes it the most impressive room inside the temple.

The sanctuary of the temple is a small room that gives access to two small rooms dedicated to offerings and objects of worship and where the images of Queen Hatshepsut and Thutmose III stand out.

The Temple of Hatshepsut fell into oblivion after the successive invasions of the Egyptian lands. At the end of the 18th century, the remains of this temple were sighted by an expedition of conquest captained by Napoleon Bonaparte himself, initiating the interest in this archaeological monument that began to be studied in the 19th century by the archaeologist Auguste Mariette and that, after many excavations and research, was reconstructed to be today one of the most precious tourist jewels of the country.

Curious facts about the Temple of Hatshepsut:

• Hatshepsut erased from her own temple. Despite being a temple dedicated to the popular pharaoh, there are very few remains of sculptures, columns or other works about Hatshepsut. The reason? That after his death, his brother Thutmose III, angry because his sister snatched the throne 20 years earlier, ordered to destroy all traces related to Hatshepsut and placed statues dedicated to him.
• From temple to monastery. With the arrival of the first Christians in Egypt, this temple was converted into a monastery, causing some damage to its interior.
• Terraces with animals and vegetation. In the times of the pharaohs, the terraces used to be decorated with a good amount of varied vegetation and different exotic animals used to walk on them. In addition, there were small pools and trees from far away countries.

How to get to the Temple of Hatshepsut

To visit the Temple of Hatshepsut, one must go to the region of the cliffs of Deir el-Bahari, on the western bank of the Nile River, in what was the ancient city of Thebes. The possibilities to visit this temple are many, but it is generally part of the tourist pack of the Valley of the Kings, which is quite close.

One option is to do the bus tour with the whole package and the other is to buy it within the Nile cruise package, as it is usually another of the stops also included in this type of tour.

In case you are staying in Luxor and want to go to the Temple of Hatshepsut on your own, you can do it by cab, as it is located 5.4 km from the city center.

Schedules

The Temple of Hatshepsut is open daily from 6 am to 5 pm and the visit lasts about 1 hour. It is recommended to visit early in the morning or late in the afternoon due to the intense heat, but that will depend on how you balance it with the other visits included in the tour you hire.

The best option to visit this site is with a guide service and within the Valley of the Kings pack. And you have to take into account that for the visit there are many stairs to climb, so that those with reduced mobility, physical disabilities or motor problems will be unable to access.

Visit prices

If you do it with a guided tour, the price will be included in the package and will depend on what the tourist agency you hire offers. To give you an approximate idea at the time of requesting a quote, we give you the official price of the entrance to the Temple of Hatshepsut: adults 100 EGP, students 50 EGP.