 |
Al-Ahram Weekly 31 August - 6 September 2000 Issue No. 497 
|
||
Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
|
||
|
Al-Ahram Weekly 31 August - 6 September 2000 Issue No. 497
|
||
| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
|
||
Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Travel Living Sports Profile People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters THE MOST SPLENDID:
Restoration work, begun 40 years ago, on Queen Hatshepsut's temple at the Deir Al-Bahari necropolis across the Nile from Luxor has been finally completed, reports Nevine El-Aref. After its official opening by President Hosni Mubarak, which is expected soon, visitors will, for the first time, be able to tour the temple's three vast terraces.
photo: Mohamed Wassim
This superb monument, often described as "the most splendid of all," is Queen Hatshepsut's mortuary temple on the Theban necropolis. A terraced structure, with a rock-hewn innermost sanctuary, the temple is surrounded by high cliffs and adorned with some of the most beautiful reliefs. Noteworthy among these are the reliefs decorating the colonnade commemorating her birth. Some of the reliefs depict Hatshepsut's voyage to Punt on the east African coast.
A Polish-Egyptian restoration team started work on the site in 1960. When restoration was begun, the upper terrace had been completely destroyed and some 10,000 blocks of inscribed stone littered the site. The walls of the temple's courtyard also had suffered severely at the hands of Christian monks who took refuge in the temple in Roman times, converting it into a monastery. The walls had been completely blackened by candle smoke.
