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Hatshepsut temple is one of the most
beautiful and dramatical mortuary temples. It was made by the
Hatshepsut’s chancellor and architect-engineer Senmut, between
the 7th and the 22nd years of the queen’s reign. The temple is
also known as Deir el-Bahri, after the former monastery that was
built in the Coptic era. When the temple was built there were
terraces, gardens with rare plants and trees like frankincense
trees. The place from where these plants were brought, Punt,
appears on the paintings that decorate one of the colonnade
walls. An avenue, three line and with sphinxes led to the
temple, and from a terrace to another are ramps. Three
colonnaded terraces having two ramps were in the temple’s
original plan. The lowest terrace has porticoes which are out of
proportion and which suffered a restoration in 1906 to protect
the reliefs that depict the Hatshepsut’s birth. The middle
terrace South side has reliefs that show the expedition of the
queen from Red Sea to Punt. To the upper terrace leads a second
ramp; this terrace is closed to the public. Osirian statues
illustrating Hatshepsut decorate the columns of this portico.
Numerous of these statues were the victims of the Thutmose III
destruction. The temple’s walls are engraved with texts that
describe the gifts offered to the queen and to the king of Punt,
the voyage to Punt, the products that were exported from there
like trees, ivory, cinnamon, gold, ebony, myrrh, incense and
aromatic wood as well as different animals. |
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