HISTORY

SUN TEMPLE
NIUSERRE
GROUP MEMBERS-
58 KSHITIJ MEHTA
59 SAAKSHI MEHTA
60 RATI MHATRE
61 ADITI MOKASHI
62 PRANJAL MORE
63 ESHA NAHAR
64 TANYA NICHWANI
65 AISHNA NIRANJAN
 GENERAL INFORMATION

• Egyptian sun temples were

ancient Egyptian temples to the sun
god Ra.
• The temples were a source of great
wealth and importance in ancient
Egypt.
LAYOUT
• It was composed of a valley temple at the edge of Abusir lake which was
• linked by a causeway to the main temple.
• The temple consisted of:-
• 1. Obelisk
• 2. Pedestal
• 3. Chamber of Seasons
• 4. Chapel Main temple
MAIN TEMPLE
• 5. Altar
• 6. Raised platform with offering basins
• 7. Storage rooms
• 8. Causeway
• 9. Valley Temple
• 10. Solar boat
LAYOUT: MAIN TEMPLE
The main temple complex was rectangular and
aligned with the cardinal points of the compass.
• The main temple was surrounded by a large enclosure wall
• THE DEDICATION CHAPEL: Lay to the SOUTHWEST of the
altar, was decorated with depictions of the founding of the
temple and the Heb Sed festival of Niuserre.
• There was a raised platform and a series of storage chambers
to the NORTHEAST of the open courtyard.
The temple was rectangular in shape. It was connected to the main temple by the causeway.

VALLEY TEMPLE- The temple was rectangular in shape. It was connected to the main
temple by the causeway.
VALLEY TEMPLE CAUSEWAY MAIN TEMPLE
MATERIALS AND SCALE
• The architectural form of Egyptian shrines was developed from that
of archaic “tent-shrines” made of timber and matting, but later
examples represent a distillation of formal temple architecture.
Building inscriptions indicate that the shrines were typically sealed
with wooden doors, embellished with metal or other lavish materials.
The Ritual of Mut describes the priest unbolting these doors for the
morning service; depictions of a similar ritual survive in the temple
of Sety I at Abydos. We need to accept that many cult statues would
have been stored within shrines in a disassembled state, as some
were too tall for their own shrine.
Basically, mud brick + plaster
However, during the 5th Dynasty, a pattern of original construction
executed in mud-brick and later reconstructed in stone emerged at
the solar temples at Abu Ghurab.
•ALTAR- In the central courtyard there was an altar,
composed of five large limestone blocks. The upper block is
circular (possibly representing the hieroglyph representing the
sun god Ra) and the lower four blocks are carved to represent
the hieroglyphs forming the word “hotep” (which can be
translated as “offering”, “satisfied” and “peace”) so the altar
itself could mean “Ra is satisfied”.
•OBELISK- Behind the altar stood the Obelisk. The plinth for
the obelisk was composed of limestone cased in granite and
was around twenty meters high. The obelisk itself was around
thirty six meters high. The obelisk was (unusually) composed of
a number of large limestone blocks rather than one single
block.
MOVEMENT
The key architectural design features that added to
the "movement" of the place were:
• The T shaped entrance allowed access to the central courtyard
and to corridors to the left and the right. The corridor on the
right led to the storage rooms and to a stairway providing
access to the roof. The corridor on the left led round the
enclosure wall to connect with the dedication chamber and the
“Chamber of Seasons”.
• There was a central courtyard in which there was an altar
composed of five large limestone blocks. The dedication
chapel lay to the southwest of the altar. This chapel provided
access to the “Chamber of Seasons”.
•There was a raised platform and a series of storage chambers to the
north east of the open courtyard. Archaeologists discovered a series of
large alabaster offering basins on the raised platform. The basins had
grooves cut into them which would have allowed blood to run from one
basin to the next and the limestone paving also incorporated a number of
grooves to allow the run off of liquid. It has been proposed that this area
was a slaughterhouse for offerings to be made in the temple.
• The valley temple (which is the temple that composes the Sun Temple of
Niussre) is badly damaged and partially submerged so it is difficult to
be sure of its original ground plan. The temple was rectangular in shape.
There was a main entrance portico in the south west incorporating four
large red granite pillars which probably had palm shaped capitals. From
this main entrance a wide corridor led north east to the causeway. Two
smaller corridors lead off to the north west and south east to connect with
two smaller entrance porticos each with two red granite pillars.
•To the south of the solar temple a mudbrick building in the
shape of a boat was discovered. The structure was at one
time plastered and whitewashed and is thought to have been
a representation of the solar boat used by the pharaoh and
the sun god Ra.
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