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Coordinates: 25°44′18″N 32°36′28″E

Deir el-Bahari
Deir el-Bahari or Dayr al-Bahri (Arabic: ‫ اﻟﺪﯾﺮ اﻟﺒﺤﺮي‬al-Dayr al-Baḥrī "the
Monastery of the North") is a complex of mortuary temples and tombs located Deir el-Bahari
on the west bank of the Nile, opposite the city of Luxor, Egypt. This is a part of UNESCO World Heritage Site
the Theban Necropolis.

The first monument built at the site was the mortuary temple of Mentuhotep II
of the Eleventh Dynasty. It was constructed during the 15th century BCE.

During the Eighteenth Dynasty, Amenhotep I and Hatshepsut also built

extensively at the site.

Contents
Mortuary temple of Nebhepetre Mentuhotep Location Luxor Governorate, Egypt

Mortuary temple of Hatshepsut Part of Theban Necropolis

Architecture Includes Mortuary Temple of
Mortuary Temple of Thutmose III Hatshepsut · Mortuary
temple of Mentuhotep II ·
Royal and non-royal tombs
Temple of Thutmose III
Stone chest
Criteria Cultural: (i), (iii), (vi)
Gallery
Reference 087-003 (http://whc.unesc
Terrorism o.org/en/list/087-003)
See also Inscription 1979 (3rd session)
Sources Coordinates 25°44′18″N 32°36′28″E
References
Publications
External links

Mortuary temple of Nebhepetre Mentuhotep

Mentuhotep II, the Eleventh Dynasty king who reunited Egypt at the
beginning of the Middle Kingdom, built a very unusual funerary complex. His
mortuary temple was built on several levels in the great bay at Deir el-Bahari.
It was approached by a 16-metre-wide (150-ft) causeway leading from a valley
temple which no longer exists.
Location of Deir el-Bahari in Egypt
The mortuary temple itself consists of a forecourt and entrance gate, enclosed
by walls on three sides, and a terrace on which stands a large square structure that may represent the primeval mound
that arose from the waters of chaos. As the temple faces east, the structure is likely to be connected with the sun cult of
Rê and the resurrection of the king.

From the eastern part of the forecourt, an opening called the Bab el-Hosan ('Gate of the Horseman') leads to an
underground passage and an unfinished tomb or cenotaph containing a seated statue of the king. On the western side,
tamarisk and sycamore trees were planted beside the ramp leading up to the terrace. At the back of the forecourt and
terrace are colonnades decorated in relief with boat processions, hunts, and scenes showing the king's military
achievements.

Statues of the Twelfth Dynasty king Senusret III were found here too.

The inner part of the temple was actually cut into the cliff and consists of a peristyle court, a hypostyle hall and an
underground passage leading into the tomb itself. The cult of the dead king centred on the small shrine cut into the rear
of the Hypostyle Hall.

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The mastaba-like structure on the terrace is surrounded by a pillared ambulatory

along the west wall, where the statue shrines and tombs of several royal wives and
daughters were found. These royal princesses were the priestesses of Hathor, one of
the main ancient Egyptian funerary deities. Although little remained of the king's
own burial, six sarcophagi were retrieved from the tombs of the royal ladies
(Ashayet, Henhenet, Kawit, Kemsit, Muyet and Sadhe). Each was formed of six
slabs, held together at the corners by metal braces and carved in sunken relief. The
sarcophagus of Queen Kawit, now in the Cairo Museum, is particularly fine.

The burial shaft and subsequent tunnel descend for 150 meters and end in a burial
chamber 45 meters below the court. The chamber held a shrine, which once held
the wooden coffin of Nebhepetre Mentuhotep. A great tree-lined court was reached
by means of the processional causeway, leading up from the valley temple. Beneath
the court, a deep shaft was cut which led to unfinished rooms believed to have been
intended originally as the king's tomb. A wrapped image of the pharaoh was
discovered in this area by Howard Carter. The temple complex also held six
mortuary chapels and shaft tombs built for the pharaoh's wives and daughters.
Site plan of Deir el-Bahari.

Mortuary temple of Hatshepsut

The focal point of the Deir el-Bahari complex is the Djeser-Djeseru meaning "the
Holy of Holies", the Mortuary Temple of Hatshepsut. It is a colonnaded structure,
which was designed and implemented by Senenmut, royal steward and architect of
Hatshepsut (and believed by some to be her lover), to serve for her posthumous
worship and to honor the glory of Amun.

Djeser-Djeseru sits atop a series of colonnaded terraces, reached by long ramps

that once were graced with gardens.[1] It is built into a cliff face that rises sharply
above it, and is largely considered to be one of the "incomparable monuments of
ancient Egypt".[2] It is 97 feet (30 m) tall.

The unusual form of Hatshepsut's temple is explained by the choice of location, in

the valley basin of Deir el-Bahari, surrounded by steep cliffs. It was here, in about
2050 BC, that Mentuhotep II, the founder of the Middle Kingdom, laid out his
sloping, terrace-shaped mortuary temple. The pillared galleries at either side of the Copper plate, probably part of an
central ramp of the Djeser Djeseru correspond to the pillar positions on two axe-blade, showing cartouche of
successive levels of the Temple of Mentuhotep. Hatshepsut. Foundation deposit in a
small pit covered with a mat, Deir el-
Today the terraces of Deir el-Bahari only convey a faint impression of the original Bahri, Egypt. 18th Dynasty. The
intentions of Senenmut. Most of the statue ornaments are missing - the statues of Petrie Museum of Egyptian
Osiris in front of the pillars of the upper colonnade, the sphinx avenues in front of Archaeology, London
the court, and the standing, sitting, and kneeling figures of Hatshepsut; these were
destroyed in a posthumous condemnation of this pharaoh. The architecture of the
temple has been considerably altered as a result of misguided reconstruction in the early twentieth century A.D.

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.[2]

There are three layered terraces reaching 97 feet (30 m) in height. Each ‘story’ 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.

The relief sculpture within Hatshepsut's temple recites the tale of the divine birth of the pharaoh. The text and pictorial
cycle also tell of an expedition to the Land of Punt, an exotic country on the Red Sea coast.

On either side of the entrance to the sanctuary (shown right) are painted pillars with images of Hathor as the capitals.
Just under the roof is an image of Wadjet, displayed as a bilateral solar symbol, flanked by two other long serpents.

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The temple includes an image, shown to the right, of Hatshepsut depicted as male
pharaoh giving offerings to Horus, and to their left, an animal skin wound around a
tall staff that is a symbol of the god Osiris.

While the statues and ornamentation have since been stolen or destroyed, the temple
once was home to two statues of Osiris, a long avenue lined by sphinxes, as well as
many sculptures of pharaoh Hatshepsut in different attitudes – standing, sitting, or
kneeling.

Mortuary Temple of Thutmose III

Thutmose III built a temple complex here, dedicated to Amun. Discovered in 1961, it
is believed to have been used during the Beautiful festival of the valley. Not much is
known about the complex, as it was abandoned after sustaining severe damage during
a landslide in the latter Twentieth Dynasty. After that, it was used as a source of
building materials and in Christian times became the site of a Coptic cemetery.
Sanctuary doorways

Royal and non-royal tombs

A tomb (TT320) in a hidden recess in the cliffs to the south of the temples
contained a cache of forty royal mummies, moved there from the Valley of the
Kings. The bodies had been placed there by Twenty-first Dynasty priests, most
likely to prevent further desecration and looting. The tomb was probably originally
built for priests of the 21st Dynasty, most likely the family of Pinedjem II.

In the cache were found the mummies of Ahmose I, along with the Eighteenth and
Nineteenth dynasty leaders Amenhotep I, Thutmose I, Thutmose II, Thutmose III,
Ramesses I, Seti I, Ramesses II, and Ramesses IX. In a separate room were found
Twenty-first dynasty High Priests and pharaohs Pinedjem I, Pinedjem II, and
Siamun. Later on, a cache of 153 reburied mummies of the priests themselves also
were found in a tomb at the site.

Private tombs dating from the Middle Kingdom through the Ptolemaic period are
also situated here. There are two most notable private tombs at Deir el-Bahari. The
first is that of Meketre (TT280), which contains many painted wooden funerary Jar bearing the cartouche of
Hatshepsut. Filled in with cedar
models from the Middle Kingdom and the first recorded human-headed canopic
resin. Calcite, unfinished.
jar.
Foundation deposit. 18th Dynasty.
From Deir el-Bahari, Egypt. The
The second, the "secret" tomb of Senenmut—the architect and steward who
Petrie Museum of Egyptian
oversaw the construction of the temple for Hatshepsut—was begun in the complex
Archaeology, London
also. Senenmut's tomb was vandalized in antiquity, but some of the relief artwork is
still intact. It was meant to be a very large tomb and its corridors are over 100 yards
(92 m) long. However, it was never finished and Senenmut was not interred there.
He has another tomb, not far from Deir el-Bahari, where his body may have been placed, but it, too, was vandalized and
robbed.

A large area of non-royal tombs in this vicinity is called Sheikh Abd el-Qurna.

The discovery of the mummies cache is depicted in the Egyptian movie The Night of Counting the Years (1969).

Stone chest
Archeologists from Warsaw University’s Institute of Archaeology led by Andrzej Niwiński have discovered a treasure
chest and a wooden box dated 3,500 years back in the Egyptian site of Deir el-Bahari in March 2020.[3][4]

The stone chest consisted of several items and all of them covered with linen canvas. Three bundles of flax were found
during the excavation. A goose skeleton was found inside one of them, sacrificed for religious purposes. The second one
included goose eggs. It is believed that what the third bundle contained was an ibis egg which had a symbolic meaning
for the ancient Egyptians.In addition, a little wooden trinket box was discovered inside the bundle, believed to contain
the name Pharaoh Thutmose II.[3][4]

According to the Andrzej Niwiński, “The chest itself is about 40 cm long, with a slight smaller height. It was perfectly
camouflaged, looked like an ordinary stone block. Only after a closer look did it turn out to be a chest.”[3][4]

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Gallery

Djeser-Djeseru – Hatshepsut's Hatshepsut's Temple before The three temples at Deir el

temple, the focal point of the restroration Bahari from the top of the cliff
compound behind them, part of
Hatshepsut's temple on left,
Tuthmosis III's temple in center,
and Mentuhotep II's temple on
right

Deir el-Bahari Hatshepsut's temple The unfinished colonnade on

the second level[5]

Egyptian soldiers from Deir-El-Bahari Hieroglyphic decorations

Hatshepsut's Year 9 expedition
to the Land of Punt, as depicted
on her temple at Deir el-Bahri

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TT 353 of Sen-en-Mut Deir-El-Bahari Deir-El-Bahari

(Senenmut tomb) - a hypogeum
built by the order of Sen-en-
Mut, 97.36m long and 41.93m
deep

THÈBES - Temple Dêr el bahri Mortuary Temple of Hatshepsut; General view of Deir el-Bahari
designed by Senenmut from the Temple of Hatshepsut
towards the Nile valley

Terrorism
In 1997, 58 tourists and four Egyptians were massacred at Hatshepsut's mortuary temple by Islamist terrorists from Al-
Gama'a al-Islamiyya in what has been called the Luxor massacre, causing a reduction of tourism in the area.[6][7]

See also
List of ancient Egyptian sites
Thebes, Egypt

Sources
Mertz, Barbara (1964). "Temples, Tombs and Hieroglyphs". New York: Coward-McCann. ISBN 0-87226-223-5

References
1. Lonely Planet; Jessica Lee; Anthony Sattin (1 July 2018). Lonely Planet Egypt (https://books.google.com/books?id=
ZkljDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT370). Lonely Planet. pp. 370–. ISBN 978-1-78701-904-1.
2. Trachtenberg, Marvin; Isabelle Hyman (2003). Architecture, from Prehistory to Postmodernity (https://archive.org/de
tails/architecturefrom00trac_0/page/71). Italy: Prentice-Hall Inc. p. 71 (https://archive.org/details/architecturefrom00t
rac_0/page/71). ISBN 978-0-8109-0607-5.
3. Whelan, Ed. "Treasure Chest Found in Egypt Reveals Clues to Thutmose II's Lost Tomb" (https://www.ancient-origi
ns.net/news-history-archaeology/thutmose-ii-0013403). www.ancient-origins.net. Retrieved 2020-03-13.

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4. "Stone chest found in ancient temple and containing skeleton of a sacrificial goose could lead to hidden royal tomb"
(https://www.thefirstnews.com/article/stone-chest-found-in-ancient-temple-and-containing-skeleton-of-a-sacrificial-g
oose-could-lead-to-hidden-royal-tomb-10980). www.thefirstnews.com. Retrieved 2020-03-13.
5. "Mortuary Temple of Hatshepsut" (https://madainproject.com/mortuary_temple_of_hatshepsut). Madain Project.
Retrieved 10 December 2019.
6. Sönmez, S. F.; Apostolopoulos, Y.; Tarlow, P. (1999). "Tourism in crisis: Managing the effects of terrorism". Journal
of Travel Research. 38 (1): 13–18. CiteSeerX 10.1.1.465.286 (https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=1
0.1.1.465.286). doi:10.1177/004728759903800104 (https://doi.org/10.1177%2F004728759903800104).
7. Tarlow, P. E. (2006). "Tourism and Terrorism". In Wilks J, Pendergast D & Leggat P. (Eds) Tourism in turbulent
times: Towards safe experiences for visitors (Advances in Tourism Research), Elsevier, Oxford, pp. 80–82.

Publications
Publications for the excavations (http://dlib.nyu.edu/ancientworld/series/memoir-of-the-egypt-exploration-fund/?pag
e=1) conducted by the Egypt Exploration Fund in the 19th and 20th centuries.

External links
Dayr al-Baḥrī (https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/153158) at the Encyclopædia Britannica
Egypt Index (http://www.bluffton.edu/~sullivanm/egypt/deirelbahri/deirelbahri.html) at Bluffton University
The Cache at Deir el-Bahri (http://archaeology.about.com/library/weekly/aa051699.htm) – Archaeology at
About.com
The Temple Djeser djeseru (http://www.maat-ka-ra.de/english/bauwerke/djeser/dj_main.htm)
Hatshepsut: from Queen to Pharaoh (http://libmma.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/compoundobject/collection/p15324coll1
0/id/82622/rec/1), an exhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art (fully available online as PDF), which
contains material on Deir el-Bahari (see index)

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